Many high school seniors throughout the nation have finally selected the university of their choice. Now university officials across the nation must anxiously await the mail.
May 1 has been designated National Candidate Reply Date for colleges and universities. By that date, students who have been accepted are guaranteed admission. After that date, the college or university can choose to admit the student or place them on a waiting list.
“Now we’re sort of a May 1 school, and students understand that,” explained Scott Belobrajdic, director of Undergraduate Admissions. “We should be able to control the size of the class.”
And the size of the freshman class has increased since last announced. In January, the targeted class size was 1,380, but now it stands at 1,410, according to Ned Harris, associate provost for Enrollment and Academic Services Harris explained that the increase was a result of losing more freshmen between the fall and spring semesters than had been planned. As the budget had already been set, additional students were necessary to even the budget out, he said.
The target of 1,410 would be the largest freshman class ever.
Last year, the target of 1,260 was exceeded by 138 students. Belobrajdic is hopeful that such a discrepancy will not occur this year.
“You can literally control the number of students after May 1,” Belobrajdic said.
“We’ve already done that with physical therapy and aviation students. Now we just have to do it for all of the schools,” he added.
In reality, it is likely that more than 1,510 students will actually be admitted, since historical data has shown that approximately 100 students will cancel their admittance during the summer, Belobrajdic said.
“We are trying to admit enough students out of our pool of applicants so that we will hit 1,410,” Harris said.
According to Harris, a targeted class size is used to determine the budget; anything under the target can hurt the budget. As Harris said earlier this semester, “If you’re going to vary, you’d rather be over.”
Acceptance letters will continue to be received over the next week, and by next week, a good idea of the freshman class size will be evident.
“Next week, the dust will settle around the freshmen class, and we’ll have to make a decision,” Harris said. The decision would be whether to continue accepting students. “It really depends where we stand when the dust settles.”
