MSU expecting to set new applicant number record
By Brittany Shammas (Last updated: 02/08/10 11:33pm)Although numbers are preliminary, MSU officials predict this year’s application pool could be the largest in the university’s history, reflecting a national trend among universities.
As of Friday morning, MSU had received 24,703 applications, which is 1,543 applications more than the number received at this time last year, said James Cotter, director of MSU’s Office of Admissions. The record number of applicants was set in 2008 at 25,589, Cotter said.
“(This year) has the potential to be the highest number of applicants in the last 25 years,” Cotter said. “I’m almost certain it will be the largest applicant pool ever. … But by the same token, if someone said, ‘What was your applicant pool in 1956?’ I don’t have that data handy.”
The majority of applications have been received, but more will continue to arrive throughout the next few months, Cotter said. The target number for a freshman class is about 7,150 to 7,200 people, he said.
Nationally, the number of people applying to and enrolling in higher education institutions has been growing for about 15 years as more people recognize their importance, said Barmak Nassirian, spokesman for the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
The trend continued this year — likely perpetuated by the recession — and demonstrates the growing appeal and popularity of higher education, Nassirian said. Because employment options are slimmer, the opportunity cost associated with attending college has been eliminated.
“You’re not going to track that same percentage from application numbers to enrollment,” he said. “But it really does point to the trend line that higher education is seeing.”
MSU Provost Kim Wilcox said the potential increase in applications is a reflection of MSU efforts to keep college affordable.
“What it means first in my mind is that we continue to be seen by students and families as a great university at a price that is worth coming and participating,” he said.
At the same time, the trend shows MSU is highly regarded despite recent budget cuts, Wilcox said.
“Every university in the country is making cuts, but we continue to be seen as a very good place for an education,” he said.
Cotter said the increased number of applicants could be the result of a savvy student population applying to a wider range of schools and weighing the financial assistance they could receive. It also could stem from more students choosing to attend school in state, he said.
Ricky Hernandez, a senior at Oxford High School in Oxford, Mich., who was accepted this year to MSU, said he and most of his friends applied to more schools than last year’s graduates so they could keep their options open.
Hernandez said he chose MSU after he talked to students and faculty throughout the years during which he attended sporting events and summer camps on campus.
“It seemed like the place for me,” Hernandez said.
Originally Published: 02/08/10 11:33pm
Anon
02/09/10 10:13amCool, now we can inflate our US News ranking by making our school “more competitive”.
Townsend
02/09/10 10:49amMSUI is not artificially boosting its admissions status — actually, I wish it would. Other schools have (ie: Maryland, Illinois, etc) have done this… The number of freshman slots is still the same as last year; they did reduce it slightly recently, I believe, but that was only to help increase the student-faculty ratio. MSU is low-rated by US News, which still places a lot of emphasis on “reputation” (1/4 if I’m not mistaken). Given the depth and bredth and high quality for the wide range of
...programs added to very-highly, innovative programs (esp for big schools) like or residential colleges, which aren’t rated (just commented on) but USNews, it’s easy to see why we’re overlooked… That, plus the fact we’re so close to also huge and very much loved U-M, we get over shadowed and overlooked way too often.
View full comment »
spartan in philly
02/09/10 11:53am“And the fact we have such a large school that shares a medium-sized state like Michigan with U-M (not the situation for most states U’s like Ohio State, Maryland, Penn State, etc) and, yet, we still pull competitive numbers (rated “More Competitive” and “Very Competitive” by USNews and Barron’s, respectively), is pretty darn good in my book.”
Townsend, this is an excellent point. One that I’ve considered often, but I don’t think a lot of people realize.
fact checker
02/09/10 2:21pmU.S. NEWS rating criteria:
1.PEER ASSESSMENT……25%
2.STUDENT RETENTION….20% (freshmen retention,20%; 6-year graduation rate,80%)
3.FACULTY RESOURCES…..20% (faculty salary,35%; proportion of classes with fewer than 20 students,30%; classes with more than 50 students,10%; proportion of professors with the highest degree in their fields, 15%; student-faculty ratio 5%; proportion of full-time faculty 5%)
4.STUDENT SELECTIVITY…..15% ( standardized admissions test scores, 50%; proportion of freshmen in the top 10 percent of their high school classes, 40%; applicant acceptance rate, 10%)
5.FINANCIAL RESOURCES….10%
6.GRADUATION RATE……5%
7.ALUMNI GIVING……..5%
...View full comment »
Jake MSU 2004
02/09/10 5:54pmHope this means MSU can get a significantly more competitive freshman class than it historically has gotten. Its crucial for MSU to be able to get top students so we can remedy this overall perception that MSU is just a party school for less than great students.
Casey
02/09/10 6:02pmResidential Colleges are not highly innovative given Ivy League schools have had them since the early 1930s and many schools like Wisconsin have had them for over 10 years. While residential college are relatively new to most Big Ten schools (Purdue and IU have doing them for about 7 years now) its not a new concept nationwide. Many privates and publics have had them for many years.
Student
02/09/10 6:58pmJust so you know both Madison and Briggs have recently celebrated 40th anniversaries.
student
02/09/10 7:44pmI don’t know why so many of you are wasting time in discussing the US News rankings when it has been demonstrated through scholarly and journalistic presentations that the margin of error for those rankings can be extremely high and the rankings themselves are subject to many values and ideals that non-biased rankings wouldn’t contain.
An example of this, it has been demonstrated that a number of university presidents have used the “peer assessment” to boost their institutions and reduce the value of others so they can look more favorable when compared to other ‘better’ universities.
...View full comment »