Application form changes have delayed the admissions process at the state's two biggest public universities.
Officials from MSU and the University of Michigan are reporting admitting fewer students for the incoming fall class of 2004 compared to the same time period last year.
U-M is substantially behind in the process because of major overhauls in its undergraduate policies after a U.S. Supreme Court decision ruled its prior guidelines were unconstitutional.
So far, U-M has admitted 500 students for the fall, compared to the 1,500 they had admitted by this time last year, U-M spokeswoman Julie Peterson said.
"The story of our delay is because we had to revise our entire process," Peterson said. "We're giving every applicant at least two thorough readings, and that is going to take time. There is going to be a transition period."
U-M's new guidelines emphasize essay writing, where students are required to respond to two short-answer essay questions. Topics include describing how cultural diversity impacts the applicant's life and how the applicant would contribute to campus.
In addition, students are required to write a 500-word essay with different topics depending on the applicant's desired field of study.
Guidelines were scrapped after U-M's old system was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in June. Under the previous system, undergraduate applicants were rated on a 150-point scale, and racial minorities automatically were rewarded 20 points. Candidates generally were accepted if they scored 100 points or more.
Peterson said the new system required 33 more positions than the old system. The operating budget for U-M's admissions office is $1.8 million a year.
Peterson added that the lag was expected, and university officials should become more efficient as they become more acclimated with the system.
U-M admits between 12,000 and 13,000 students per year. Only about 5,200 of those actually end up attending the university.
But the slowdown isn't unique to Ann Arbor - MSU officials say minor tweaks in its application process might be the reason for slight backups in East Lansing.
Pamela Horne, MSU's assistant to the provost for enrollment management and director of admissions, said MSU has admitted about 8,000 incoming students, compared to 8,900 last year.
Between 65 and 75 percent of applicants are accepted, Horne said.
MSU's application form has an optional two-page essay that will be required in 2005. The form requires the applicant to include any previous criminal history. Students with legal trouble are allowed to submit a letter detailing the circumstances of the problem.
Horne said a poor essay would not hurt an applicant's chances for admission but might set them apart.
"It certainly is much more interesting to read applications when you get to know the students beyond the numbers," she said. "It's been a real plus for some students."
Horne said there are 17 admission officials that read applications; six part-time readers were added to oversee the applicant pool.
East Lansing High School senior Joe Mundy said he has already submitted his application to MSU and also plans on applying to U-M.
Mundy added that he mistakenly turned in an old application without the essay guidelines, but he is not worried about not submitting an essay to MSU.
"I wasn't too concerned in writing the essay," Mundy said. "I was pretty confident in my test scores and GPA."
Mundy added that his classmates don't view essay writing as a burden.
"Any chance they have to brag about what they've done, they like to jump on that."
Antonio Planas can be reached at planasan@msu.edu.
