Cincinnati Decision Day arrives with record numbers and Bearcat surprises

This news comes on the heels of UC announcing record enrollment for the eighth straight year in the fall when Bearcats numbered 46,798. Based on current numbers, UC officials expect to eclipse 48,000 in fall 2021.

Jack Miner, UC’s vice provost for enrollment management, says UC’s popularity is even more remarkable given the COVID-19 pandemic and state and national trends where the majority of colleges and universities are experiencing significant enrollment declines.

“Where others are struggling to maintain enrollment, it looks like we are going to be able to grow pretty significantly,” says Miner. “We think we’re getting such a great application pool because of our strong academic profile, our phenomenal student life experiences and because people really love the idea of being on UC’s urban campus. We are doing all we can to ensure a healthier, safer and good experience in the fall.”

Those who applied by the Dec. 1 Early Action Deadline will found out at 5 p.m. (EST) Feb. 5 if they had been offered admission. Those who applied after Dec. 1 and those who continue to apply will receive admission decisions on a rolling basis each Friday after Cincinnati Decision Day.

For a few lucky future Bearcats, the news that they will be studying on UC’s destination campus in the fall of 2021 arrived when the university’s Decision Day surprise team rolled up to their school or driveway. Those students can received a socially distanced and masked visit from a few UC VIPs including Miner and the Bearcat mascot.


Grayson Mentzel, a senior at Walnut Hills High School, was the very first UC applicant to get an official admission letter from UC on Feb. 4, when Miner, the Bearcat and Marianne Lewis, dean of UC’s Carl H. Lindner College of Business, paid a surprise visit to her family’s East Walnut Hills home.

"This is amazing," says Grayson, who teared up when she opened the door. "No other college obviously has gone to this much length. It is very surprising and exciting. I’ve lived here my whole life, so UC is a big part of our family. It is so humbling."

Grayson's mom Kate Burroughs said seeing their daughter get the "rockstar treatment" from UC was incredibly special for their family.

"This is awesome," says Burroughs. "It is so wonderful to see her celebrated for just the hard work that she has put in over the last six years. She's known she wanted to go to business school since she could think about college, and the UC program is all she's talked about for two years."

Dean Lewis was able to share with Mentzel not just that she was admitted into her first-choice major (marketing), but that she has also been invited to be a part of the Lindner Business Honors program, a highly selective academic community that allows students hands-on, real-world learning opportunities such as the ability to intern, co-op, network and study abroad.

"It was wonderful to see Grayson's excitement and surprise," says Dean Lewis. "We have a variety of honors opportunities for students that really accelerate their experiential learning as well as their academic learning, and given the headstart that Grayson has, she's a perfect fit. We look forward to helping her make the most of all of her UC opportunities."

Miner, who started at UC in January of 2020, is thrilled to begin celebrating Decision Day and other moments that matter to incoming students.



“These Decision Day surprises are going to be a really neat opportunity,” says Miner. “Decision Day is always exciting, but this year we have picked a small number of students who we are surprising in person.”

Miner says the idea is one more way for the two-century-old university to give back to the community that founded it.



“We are a university that really values our relationship to Cincinnati, Cincinnati Public Schools and all the surrounding schools in the region,” he says. We are a national research university, but we’re also still the hometown school.”

In addition to the record number of applicants, the university is also celebrating its most diverse class of applicants in history. Among the numbers, UC is seeing a 24% increase in applicants offered admission who are African American and a 19% increase in applicants offered admission who are Hispanic.

“We are coming off our most diverse student population we’ve ever had at UC where nearly 25% of our students were minorities,” says Miner. “This fall we could very likely once again have our most diverse makeup in our 202-year history. And what is great is that it is not just racial diversity. It’s also the number of first-generation students we are seeing. We’re trying to grow the number of people in the Cincinnati area with a college degree. So it is not just about us, it’s really about the larger community.”

Beyond Cincinnati, UC is also seeing high water marks for the number of out-of-state and international students who are applying.

Mohamed Camara had no idea UC’s Decision Day surprise team would be rolling up to Aiken High School at 8 a.m. Friday. Walking outside the doors of the Cincinnati Public School, he was greeted with a roar of cheers and smiles from Aiken administrators, staff and teachers who have gotten to know him since he immigrated to the U.S. from West Africa (Mali) a couple of years ago.

Camara learned from Vice Provost Miner that he had been admitted into UC’s international affairs program in the UC College of Arts and Sciences and would be receiving a $2,000 grant to help with expenses. The 18-year-old is a first-generation college student who one day hopes to represent his country’s interests abroad and help others go through the immigration process.

“This young man deserves all the accolades and the opportunities in the world,” says Lisa Votaw, Aiken principal. “He’s a delightful human being, and he works very hard. It is great to keep him in the city. We try to help raise these kids and teach them all that we can, and then they fly. And that is what it is all about.”

It has been a lifelong dream for Alex Lewis to one day follow in her mother’s footsteps. Just like her mom, Sherri Lewis, Alex hoped to attend the UC College of Nursing and one day become a nurse.

As Decision Day arrived February 5, she couldn’t stop thinking about 5 p.m., when more than 24,000 UC applicants would discover if they had been admitted for the fall. For Alex, however, the news came a few hours earlier in the form of an enormous surprise.

She was completely in the dark that UC had reached out to her mom to set up a huge reveal on the front steps of Roger Bacon High School with her classmates peering out the windows.

“I’m over the moon,” Sherri said, as she waited for the school to walk her daughter out the front doors. “I can’t stand it at this point. I’ve kept this secret for almost a week now. I am ecstatic for her to be a Bearcat just like me. I mean this is bigger than any signing day that I’ve ever seen. It is a huge moment.”

Indeed it was a huge moment as Alex walked out to learn from Vice Provost Miner that she had not only been accepted into the UC College of Nursing, but she also had been awarded a $2,000 grant.

“It makes me really happy that all of you are here to support me,” says Alex. “I’m very happy right now, just speechless.”

Mom soon joined her in front of the cameras, and the two embraced with a massive hug.

“My mom has been very, very important in my life, and I want to be just like her when I grow up. There is a long legacy of nursing in my family, and I’m just very proud.”

• Ohio
• Kentucky
• Indiana
• Illinois
• Michigan
• California
• Pennsylvania
• New Jersey
• New York
• Texas

• India
• Vietnam
• United Arab Emirates
• China
• Pakistan

New students at UC will benefit from the new Bearcat Promise UC introduced in 2019. Bearcat Promise is an innovative academic and professional development program designed to help students design a customized pathway to their ideal future. Instituted as a crucial piece of UC's new strategic direction, known as Next Lives Here, Bearcat Promise represents a philosophical shift and commitment by the university to all students that they will graduate with a degree in one hand and a career plan in the other.

Last May UC announced a test-optional admissions policy for a two-year period as a result of significant disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The move means that students entering UC in fall 2021 and 2022 will not be required to submit standardized test scores from the ACT or SAT to gain admission to the vast majority of programs. Though a few select programs will still require a standardized test, most applicants will be able to choose whether or not to submit scores to be considered as part of UC’s holistic admissions review model. Applications are read by admission team members, who are trained to use application information — both academic and personal — to more fully understand who the applicant is, how likely they are to be academically successful and what attributes the student will bring to the campus community.

Note: The above application and admissions offer figures do not include UC's top-ranked College-Conservatory of Music, which will share admission decisions no later than March.

Featured image at top: Mohamed Camara receives a surprise visit to Aiken High School from Jack Miner, UC vice provost for enrollment management, who shared his admission news. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Creative + Brand