Undergraduate applications up over 23 percent

"Our goal is to be 50:50 [men to women]," Stetson said. "We want [the gender split] to be representative of the population." There are many reasons for the substantial increase in the applicant pool, but Stetson said no one factor is directly responsible for the increase. He said one possibility is that perspective freshmen are comforted by the Ivy League name during the present economic recession. "There is a converging set of reasons affecting the applicant pool," Stetson said. "We might be seeing the returning perception that an Ivy League education has extra value [considering the present economy]." Admissions Planning Director Christoph Guttentag said yesterday he does not think last year's 47 percent acceptance rate convinced people to apply to the University. "I think [the 23 percent] is significant and broad enough that it is difficult for me to think that that would be a significant factor for a high school student's decision to apply," Guttentag said. Stetson said the recruiting process was evaluated and expanded during the past year. Officers visited 1560 schools and held 115 evening programs, both increases over last year's schedule. The admissions department also worked with a University surveying office to determine where in the country to focus recruiting. This year the admissions committee also changed the application to counter views that the University had the hardest application in the Ivy League, Stetson said. One of the four essays was eliminated, and the application fee, previously set at $60, was lowered to $55, the average rate for the other Ivy League schools. "The application is less intimidating, more comfortable, but still challenging," Stetson said. "Now it is more user-friendly." The admissions committee tried to personalize the application process by increasing the amount of interaction between students and perspectives. Stetson said the number of applications increased significantly throughout most of the University, with the exception of Wharton which increased only five percent. The Nursing School had the most dramatic rise of 47 percent. The College followed suit with a rise of 28 percent and the Engineering School saw 23 percent more applications. These numbers parallel national trends. According to a study of college freshmen sponsored by the American Council on Education, fewer people are choosing careers in business. Only 15.6 percent of those polled stated business as their career goal. Stetson said that the number of applications is in a cyclical pattern, and that he hopes we are in the midst of an upward trend. "I am hoping that the number of applications will stay at or above the 12,000 level so we will be well-positioned for the increased 18 year-old population predicted for the latter part of the decade," Stetson said. And Stetson said he also expects the number of minority student applicants to increase, leading to an even more diverse student body. "There will be more minorities in the latter part of the decade, so [the University] should be very diverse in the years ahead," he said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.