Koch 1

Hunter Koch
Pre-Calc Pd. 5
Kiker
9-8-13

Texas A&M University Fall Undergraduate Enrollment; 1998-2012

College is something that has become more and more accessible over the course of time. With
more scholarships and student loans becoming more frequent, and an increase in job competition,
higher education has become more desirable by our society than it has in the past. My data is based on
Texas A&Ms undergraduate enrollment between 1998 and 2012. I chose this data because I feel like
enrollment is something that many people would want to observe when applying to college, as class
sizes may be something of importance to those making a large, expensive, and life-dependent
investment. This data would also be meaningful for college counselors trying to help others make this
decision.

The
equa
tion
that
best
fits

the data is quartic, or as some call it, bi-quadratic. In this equation, two terms are added on to the front
of a quadratic equation, giving it this alternative name. This equation was chosen because of its r^2value, 0.954. When trying to find the correct equation, the key is finding the one with the r or r^2
value closest to one, and the quartic equation was by far closer than any other type of regression. This
equation is modeled by
-.424x^4+18.655x^3+(-213.163x^2)+893.454x+35068.29. The data acquired for the two variables is
shown below.

Koch 2
The data does not have one simple slope, as enrollment frequently dropped and increased
throughout the fifteen year span. Between 1998 and 2002, there is a very small and gradual increase
shown, starting a 35,740, and peaking at 36,675 students. After this peak, the enrollment begins a
steady decline over the next two years, bottoming out at 35, 732 students. After that, there is an incline
in enrollment up until 2008, when enrollment stayed about the same for the next year. In 2010 the
numbers of students began to increase again, and in 2012 suddenly exploded, increasing by more then
2,000 students. This landed the enrollment at more than 42,000 people. This is not what I

hypothesized, as my prediction was that the data would have a steady increase over the years. My
research concludes that student enrollment increased by about 19%, with a total addition of 6,774
undergraduate students. The equation also suggests that enrollment will further increase in the future,
with 2013 hosting 43,417 undergraduate students, 2014 with 44,892, and 2015 with 46,372.
This information would be very useful to a college counselor to inform those trying to pick a
college that they wish to attend. It would also be good for those applying on their own, as it would hint
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class sizes, and the chances of acceptance, which are two pieces of information that are very important
for most people trying to find the college that best suits them. These people are very important to our
society, as they are those responsible for our future, so helping them make the best decision possible is
very important to not only their lives, but also everyone around them.
In conclusion, help from this data sets a pattern, showing that enrollment will more than likely
continue to increase at Texas A&M, causing larger class sizes. With the undergraduate program in
itself surpassing 40,000 people, this shows that the University is becoming one of the biggest in Texas,
after passing the University of Texas in recent years. We can also infer with this data that admission
rates will more than likely decrease at the University, in order to stay competitive with other schools at
similar academic levels. This can already be observed of other colleges in recent years, with the
University of Texas reducing its automatic admission level from 10% to 8%, causing admission rates to
decline. Other universities such as A&M are likely to follow if predictions from the data and equation
prove to be right. This is yet another important point, especially to students who will be applying in
years to come, as this helps applicants to know what to expect the difficulty of being admitted to the
University.

Works Cited
"Data and Research Services." Www.tamu.edu. Texas A&M University, n.d. Web. 09 Sept. 2013.
Weisstein, Eric W. "Quartic Equation." MathWorld--A Wolfram Web Resource.