About 10,000 students already have applied to MSU for fall 2003 - up about 43 percent from last October. Admissions officials say the increase might cause waiting lists to be longer this year.
Jim Cotter, senior associate director of admissions, said he doesn’t expect more applications overall, rather the time frame of applying to college is becoming earlier.
“Wait lists are not bad news,” Cotter said. “They may look bad at face value to the students, but for the university it is a great way to tell students they fit the academic profile.”
Last year, MSU received a record 25,200 applications and admitted 16,990 freshmen.
One reason for the early applications could be MSU’s rolling admissions procedure, which enables students to apply throughout the school year, and applications are reviewed as they arrive. Those who apply early are guaranteed a response in early November.
Pamela Horne, assistant to the provost for enrollment management and director of admissions, said even when students are notified in the fall, it’s difficult to predict which students will arrive on campus because many are accepted to multiple schools.
“Clearly MSU is committed to access,” Horne said. “The university wouldn’t keep students dangling if students didn’t keep us dangling.”
Horne said admission officers don’t like denying qualified students, so wait lists are the best way to get the top applicants.
She said gimmicks don’t work either, citing students on the waiting list who have sent in items such as cookies or even shoes, saying “they have one foot in the door now.”
“We are looking at the record to find the best match,” Horne said. “Beyond that there is not much a student can do.”
Waiting lists are becoming more popular around the country. The number of colleges now using waiting lists in their admissions process has increased by 40 percent over the past four years, according to data released by the College Board last week.
At MSU in 2002, about 2,800 students were put on waiting lists, and about 200 of them later were accepted.
Provost Lou Anna Simon said the university tries to find students who have a passion for learning.
“There are some automatic admits based on academic credentials and a number of students for whom the counselors pay particular attention to,” she said.
Simon said through the College Achievement Admissions Program, or CAAP. The program is an alternative admissions procedure for students, which the provost said allows MSU to remain accessible by identifying “students with great potential and haven’t achieved the highest level with GPAs.”
Meagan Polakowski made sure she applied to MSU in September of her senior year because she feared being passed up or put on a waiting list.
“I think MSU misses out on a lot of people they would have accepted because they apply later than others,” the English freshman said.
