Inside Ivy’s enrollment surge
As seen in the spring 2026 Ivy magazine.
Today’s high school students are savvy when it comes to searching for a college that fits their needs. They do their research. They ask tough questions. During the process, many see business as a solid, practical option.
“When they’re being really honest, they tell you they want to make money, and they want a great career,” said Tyler Easton, director of undergraduate recruitment at the Ivy College of Business. “They see business as a natural pathway to that.”
Easton oversees enrollment strategy, recruitment marketing, operations, and three full-time recruiters at the college. His team focuses on positioning Ivy as a top choice for business students, emphasizing early access to internships and industry connections. They target students in Iowa, Illinois, and Minnesota, and are expanding into new markets.
Throughout the process, the recruitment team works with students to understand their interests.
“They might tell us they enjoy solving problems, or they like numbers, or they like challenges. We discuss how that connects to a major. Then we talk about how that major connects to a career pathway,” Easton said. “So, we’re really highlighting how Ivy prepares students to build their resume, not just earn a credential or a diploma.”
They help students stay focused on the ultimate goal – employment.
“Throughout our time communicating with students and their parents, we’re constantly talking about our connections to industry,” Easton said. “We don’t want them to wait until they are starting their senior year to think about an internship. We want them to be ready for that after their first or second year with us.”
Every day, recruiters speak to future students and their parents about why they should choose Ivy.
That may sound easy.
“It’s not, because everyone has a business program. We have to show them how we stand out. At any given moment, we have to be able to explain how we compare to any school they ask about,” Easton said. “That may be a school near their home, or it could be their mom or dad’s alma mater. We have to be able to respond and explain how we are different, how we are better.”
The value of an Ivy education
A tremendous asset for the Ivy College of Business at the undergraduate level has been the elimination of pre-business admission requirements upon enrollment, a change that took effect in 2022. The Ivy College of Business is the only public business school in Iowa to offer direct admission for all business students.
“The undergraduate recruitment team works with students and their families in many ways. It’s not just a campus visit,” Easton said. “It’s also when they open an email, when they see Iowa State in any marketing message. That messaging experience is how we actually communicate our value to those students and to their parents.”
Easton’s team is on the front line every day. It’s his responsibility to ensure that the team, whether visiting high schools or community colleges, delivers a consistent and clear message at every touchpoint. “That’s important,” he said.
Ivy experiences record enrollment
This is the first time in Ivy’s history that the college has had four undergraduate recruiters. That, combined with direct entry, has helped the college achieve record enrollment in fall 2025, with 5,401 students, surpassing last year’s record of 5,197 students.
For the first time in college history, the first-year undergraduate incoming class surpassed 1,000, an 11.8 percent increase. Also, it was the first time the college’s total graduate enrollment passed 500 students.
Graduate program recruitment efforts
The Ivy College of Business offers a suite of master’s programs that fit the schedules of busy working professionals who want to take their careers to a higher level.
For graduate students, the challenges are similar to those of undergraduate students. Their goal is to identify what they really want to do in their professional lives and to select a major that aligns with their interests and professional goals.
“This is a bigger challenge now than it was even just five years ago because artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly disrupting the jobs, industries, and skill sets needed to acquire sustainable employment,” said Sam Sivaskandan, director of recruiting for Ivy’s professional master’s programs.
Professional master’s programs, which target working professionals or recent graduates seeking to advance or transition careers, focus on practical application, workplace problem-solving, and career growth.
“Many graduate students are expressing a strong interest in strengthening their quantitative, analytical, communication, data analytics, and critical thinking skills,” Sivaskandan said. “Our on-campus programs have solid career placement data and good starting salaries, which allows our graduates to better navigate macroeconomy-induced job disruptions.”
With AI becoming a dominant force in the business world, Sivaskandan said there are many ways students can prepare.
“AI is preparing to take over many jobs that are primarily data recall, task-based positions,” he said. “However, there are five skills that AI cannot easily replace.”
They include:
- Create what doesn’t exist: People generate ideas. Innovation, storytelling, and design thinking remain the true frontiers of differentiation.
- Asking the right questions: AI provides surface answers, but only humans can choose the right questions. Analytical judgment is a premium leadership trait.
- Empathy, listening, mentoring, and trust: In a world saturated with synthetic content, authenticity is king. Emotional intelligence is among the top three leadership traits for navigating AI change.
- Moral reasoning and ethical judgment: Automation scales decisions, but humans weigh ethics. Privacy, bias, and social impact demand moral reasoning that no algorithm can automate. Ethical judgment has become more important than technical competence for senior leaders.
- Learn, unlearn, and relearn faster: The greatest cost of AI is the training and retraining of large language models. Humans are naturally excellent at this at a very low cost to companies.
