Josalynn Vazquez is the type of college student who creates her own success at every turn.

But as a freshman at Bowling Green State University – just three years ago – there were times when her introduction to college felt overwhelming.

The first in her immediate family to attend college, Vazquez sometimes found herself inundated with navigating the finances of paying for her education. In the span of a couple of months, she went from a high school class of 30 to sitting in individual classes with 200 people. As for her major, Vazquez knew she liked being around kids, but she didn’t think being a teacher was right for her. She settled on psychology, albeit without being sure of what, exactly, she would do with the degree.

And, at first, the social aspect of college wasn’t coming naturally.

“Even though I had decided on psychology, there were a lot of other aspects of my life that I needed to work on,” she said. “My freshman year, I really didn’t know how to make connections.”

Like every other BGSU student, however, Vazquez had a wide-ranging support system on which the University bases its model of student success.

For Vazquez, the positive changes in her academic career can be traced to her introduction to Life Design, a comprehensive program that empowers students to use design thinking principles and become agents of their own success.

Through meetings with her Life Design coach, Vazquez defined her values and what she truly hoped to gain from college and a career. She began prototyping her interests and joining student organizations – and saw her college experience quickly change for the better.

Now a senior at BGSU, Vazquez is studying to be a school psychologist, is the president of a sorority, an ambassador for the Life Design program and a leader to whom other students turn.

“This program helped me become the person that I wanted to be,” Vazquez said. “Now I’m a sorority president and can stand up in front of a group of people to speak on a regular basis. Freshman year me would not have been able to do that.”

By design, the student success model at BGSU is proactive rather than reactive. Students equipped with support and resources are better able to take ownership of their own educational journeys, thus maximizing their time in college.

The principles are backed by research: a 2024 study from the Brookings Institute that examined two decades of research on college access and completion found that three types of interventions – comprehensive programs, “low-touch” interventions, and advising – were correlated with student success.

At BGSU, all three types of interventions are not just present – they're foundational parts of the University’s efforts to help students live full lives and careers.

“One of the things that BGSU did relatively early on in this journey – which we committed to and enshrined in our identity – was ensure that more students obtained the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to succeed while here and once they graduate,” said Glenn Davis, Ph.D, the University’s vice president for Student Engagement and Success.

“Everybody is focused on their students being successful, but at BGSU, we’ve actually defined what that success means and followed through to make sure we live up to our promise.”

Data has shown that the University’s practices have resonated with students. BGSU achieved record retention and graduation rates during the past three years.

One of the University’s interventions is Early Alerts, which provide key academic checkpoints early in a semester so faculty, advisors and other student support professionals can recognize students – both those struggling and excelling in the classroom – with plenty of time remaining.

From 2021 through Fall 2025, the retention rate of first-year students who received early alerts rose by 8%.

The system has experienced success largely because Early Alerts lead directly to human interaction and support. Every BGSU student, both undergraduate and graduate, is assigned an outreach coordinator, part of an overall student success team available to help them at every turn.

Davis said students can struggle in college for many reasons, so the Early Alerts system is designed to help students receive the correct type of support as soon as they need it.

“It’s not just asking if we can help, but really asking what we can help with,” Davis said. “Once we know the root cause of the challenge, we can provide the right resources, whether that’s access to financial help, mental health support or tutoring. We’ve gotten better and better at that. Alerts are great – but only if they’re addressing the actual issue.”

Undecided students are finding similar success at BGSU through the Deciding Student Program, housed in the Geoffrey H. Radbill Center for College and Life Design.

Beginning with the summer before first-year students enroll, undecided students take a survey that maps their interests, an informative process for students who are having trouble choosing between degree programs and those who are truly unsure of which career path to pursue.

By the end of the first semester, during which undecided students take BGSU 1910 – a one-credit course dedicated solely to selecting a major – and one-on-one meetings with a Life Design coach, 98% of students who have engaged with Life Design have either chosen a major or narrowed their choices, giving both populations a clear roadmap for prototyping their next steps.

Adrienne Ausdenmoore, the associate vice president and executive director of the Radbill Center, said the program’s success is directly tied to helping students forge their own path with guided support.

“What that survey tells us is that students who started with one to three ideas have likely decided on a major, and the students who started from a point of ‘I have no idea’ have really narrowed in,” Ausdenmoore said. “We want students to choose the major that is right for them so they can continue their academic progress to a degree. Their Life Design coach is a part of their team while they navigate that process."

Ausdenmoore often says that her hope for every BGSU student is to find their people and find their place while at the University, which can begin by knowing that the support staff at the University is rooting for them.

By teaching students design thinking early in a college career, students not only pick a degree program with which they connect, but also take the initial steps to a career they find fulfilling.

“From the beginning, we want students to prototype as many of their interests as possible so they can try things out on a low-stakes basis before making decisions,” Ausdenmoore said. “The entire idea of Life Design is to design a meaningful college experience. Before you make a big investment in time, resources or money, we want you to maximize your learning.”

Overall, enrollment at BGSU has surged 36% since Fall 2021, with the University breaking records in back-to-back years in 2024 and 2025. BGSU enrollment is up 4% in 2026, marking the second straight year the University welcomed more than 4,000 new students. The most recent freshman class chose BGSU with an average cumulative grade-point average of 3.77, also the highest in University history.

In 2025, the Wall Street Journal ranked BGSU as the No. 3 public university in the United States that students said they would choose again. BGSU was the top-ranked public university in the Midwest in this ranking for the sixth year in a row.

"Bowling Green is big enough to provide all the opportunities of a comprehensive research university, but small enough that each of our students can actually take advantage of it, something that has long made our University so special,” BGSU President Rodney K. Rogers said. “We have leaned in on the student experience, intentionally empowering our students to take advantage of all we have to offer from day one, and we will absolutely continue to provide a great education of value."

Davis said the systems in place at BGSU are designed to allow students to focus on the core parts of college. By offering support with comprehensive programs – ranging from help with financial aid, mental health, picking a major or simply knowing how to register for classes – students can focus on their coursework, co-curricular experiences and student organizations.

“Those are the right things to be challenging for students,” Davis said. “Knowing how to register should be easy. Knowing how to sign up for advising should be easy. Knowing how to sign up for FAFSA should be easy. That’s on us.

“You don’t want students running in circles trying to figure out something that is, quite frankly, our responsibility.”

For students like Vazquez, having guided support has made all the difference.

Now helping others in the Life Design program herself, Vazquez said finding the right path for her while at BGSU has been a life-changing experience.

“I’m a first-generation college student who is financially doing it on my own, so I want to look back on my four years and be able to say that I did everything that I could,” she said. “I took the advice from coaches and faculty here, and I can say I’m very happy with where I am today.”