Dear Colleagues,
At Saint Mary’s, our entire community plays a role in meeting enrollment goals. Today, I am thrilled to share some data that proves our collective commitment is producing tangible results. We aren’t just meeting goals; we’re exceeding them.
I want to extend a heartfelt congratulations to the Admissions Team for our Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs, led by Director Laurie Roy. Because of their dedicated work, we surpassed our recruitment goal for the spring 2026 semester. With “official” numbers now finalized, the results are clear. We welcomed 251 students to our internally-supported (non-OPM) programs, 108% of goal and +21.8% year-over-year.
A Trend of Success
It is worth highlighting that we are ahead year-over-year in every single stage in the recruitment pipeline, from inquiries to applications to admits, showing encouraging increased interest for our programs and our university. This suggests that these results are not a momentary spike; this is a sustained improvement for Saint Mary’s. This spring success also builds upon the fall semester, where we met our recruitment goal “on the number,” exactly 100% of goal with 479 incoming students.
| Metric | Result | Vs. Goal | Vs. Last Year |
| Spring incoming students (SGPP internal) | 251 students | 108% | +21.8% |
| Fall incoming students (SGPP internal) | 479 students | 100% | +7.6% |
Beyond the Numbers
This “win” belongs to you. While the admissions team plays a crucial role, these results reflect the work of faculty and staff across many areas of the university. Whether you are designing academic programs, teaching courses, packaging financial aid, helping a student reset a password, answering the phone with a warm welcome to a prospective student, and more, you contributed to this “win.” To use our own brand language, these results were “because of you.”
And, of course, behind each number is a person with a story. By choosing Saint Mary’s, these 251 students have given us the privilege of fulfilling our mission: to awaken, nurture, and empower them to lead ethical lives of service and leadership.
Finally, as some of you know, we hope to have more good news to share regarding recruitment in the coming months. Enrollment leaders are a naturally superstitious bunch, so let’s keep our heads down and keep working–today, though, let’s take a moment to celebrate this hard-earned milestone.
Sincerely,
Michael McMahon
Vice President for Enrollment Management
