Applicant numbers reach new heights

Author: Ilana Prior

The Office of Admissions sent out letters of acceptance to over 1,400 prospective students on March 28. This year, the College saw the largest applicant pool ever, with 7,823 prospective students vying for 570 September-enrollment spots in the Class of 2012, and 90 February-admission spots for the Class of 2012.5. The acceptance rate was a mere 18 percent, down five percent from last year.

The number of applicants has nearly doubled in five years, while class sizes have remained relatively stable. Bob Clagett, dean of Admissions, said that the increase in applicants has made this a "really tough year to be admitted to Middlebury."

Clagett believed that recognition of Middlebury as one of the best liberal-arts schools in the country is growing, in part because "the international studies, environmental studies and foreign language programs are resonating really deeply with people in the country and the world."

The extensive travel of the admissions staff within the United States has also greatly increased the College's profile. In recent years, the staff has concentrated particularly on the southern, southwestern and western regions of the U.S. These are areas where high-school graduates typically attend college at lower rates and prefer to stay in-state. The results of this effort are evident - while the Northeast, Midwest, mid-Atlantic and South all had between a four- and six-percent increase in the number of applications, applications from the Southwest region increased a dramatic 25 percent from last year.

In addition, the admissions staff has made efforts to connect with urban outreach organizations to reach lower-income students and students of color. This move is part of the College's plan to increase diversity and to dissolve the perception among some that Middlebury's student body is overwhelmingly Caucasian. The result was a 13 percent increase in applicants who identify themselves as students of color. More than 1,000 students of color applied this year, while only 526 applied three years ago.

International applicants accounted for more than 18 percent of the pool, a 23 percent increase from 2007. Large numbers of international students have traditionally attended Middlebury, but Clagett accredited the recent increase to the travel of the admissions staff. He also noted that Middlebury is well-known internationally because of its connection with the United World Colleges, whose students come from around the globe.

In addition to Middlebury's increasing popularity, the admissions staff was more conservative with the number of admitted students this year. The Class of 2011 had a very high yield of students who chose to attend Middlebury once admitted. Rather than risk over-enrolling, the College now has a waitlist that will most likely continue far into the summer. However, Clagett is "quite confident that we wouldn't have a higher yield than last year … it was a [watershed moment]."

Both Harvard and Princeton dropped their early admissions programs two years ago, adding additional pressure to the applicant pool. Students who would have been accepted to one of those schools in past years are now applying to schools like Middlebury. As a result, the applicant pool was not only larger, but was also composed of more highly qualified students.

"I was pretty much not accepted to any of the Ivy League schools," said Yash Chopra, a senior at The Key School in Annapolis, Md., "and I was expecting to get into Georgetown [University]." Despite Chopra's rejection from Georgetown, he has been accepted to the College's Class of 2012.

Chopra applied to 10 schools. "The increasing number of applicants makes it easier to apply to more schools," he explained, "especially with the Common [Application], which Middlebury is on." He also noted that it seems like it was easier for students in past years to get into college, as friends with similar GPAs and SAT scores got into colleges from which he was deferred.