Administration cutting back on Feb admissions

Author: Scott Greene

Middlebury College will begin to scale back its February admissions program in an effort to transform a system that "no longer offers a structural advantage to the College," as recommended in the Strategic Plan approved in May. The College will make the February admissions (Feb) program optional for first-year students, a move already visible in this year's Feb Class and one that will help lower the number of Febs over a three or four-year period.

"I think we envisioned that the program might shrink by roughly 15 students per year until it is around 65," said John Emerson, Secretary of the College and Dean of Planning. "Our goal was to have the Feb program be one that our admitted students choose, instead of forcing it on them."

As explained in Recommendation five of the Strategic Plan, the February admissions program initially served as a method of balancing the number of students enrolled at the College during the fall and spring semesters.

"Going back 30 years, there was an uneven enrollment with far more students going abroad in the spring than in the fall, so we started the Feb program to fill them," Dean of Admissions Bob Clagett said. "Now it turns out that the numbers are about the same."

The strategic planning process also revealed several disadvantages facing incoming February first-years, including the lack of classes in the spring needed to begin a particular academic sequence, such as foreign language studies or sequences in several science departments. The Feb program also posed problems for the College's commons system. "There was a feeling that [the Febs] had almost become a subgroup that wasn't integrating as well into the student body because of how large that they are," Clagett said.

Despite apparent disadvantages, the College's February admissions program is well-known across the country. Clagett emphasized that "it has put Middlebury College well ahead of the curve in terms of being philosophically in favor of the idea of taking time off."

Dean of the College Tim Spears agreed, mentioning that Middlebury has been approached by colleges about the Feb program because of the advantages offered with regards to enrollment planning. "The principle of starting in the middle of the year from an admissions point of view is a great idea," Spears said, "particularly given what students have to do to get into college these days."

Rather than just eradicating the program, an idea Emerson said was not discussed by the Planning Committee, the College will make February admission entirely voluntary. While the number of February first-years typically hovers around 125, the Administration hopes that the number will gradually fall to between 60 and 70 students.

"In the best of all possible worlds we would like students to choose to come in February," Spears said. "The recommendation is really trying to recognize all the things that are really good about the Feb program and make it a basis of how the program should end up."

Assistant Dean of Admissions Karen Guttentag echoed the advantages of an optional Feb program. "Only designating as Febs those students who deliberately select that experience should make for a high level of Feb satisfaction," she said. "This self-selection may also reduce the number of Febs."

The reduction has already begun, although the change thus far is incremental. This year, 102 new students will begin their Middlebury careers in February, down from 111 a year ago. And the ensuing drop in the number of Febs will be accompanied by a corresponding increase in the number of students beginning in the fall, so the size of the student body will not change.

"Students who might have been Febs but who prefer to start in September would have more opportunity to do that," Emerson said, "but students who like the idea of a February start would have every opportunity to plan their lives that way."