Editorial

Author: Perspective on prospectives

Over the past two weeks, hundreds of prospective students have descended on our quiet Vermont campus to get an appreciation for the dynamic and exciting nature of life at Middlebury, soggy April weather notwithstanding. Through the Campus Preview days program, this wide-eyed group of (mostly) high-schoolers has had the opportunity to attend classes and experience residential life firsthand - they have even dispensed quickly with the inevitable first-year ritual of confusing the Axinn Center at Starr Library (AXN) with Alexander Twilight Hall (AXT).

While some current students were thrilled to participate in the program, serving as panelists and even hosting "prospies" in their dorms, others were irked by the degree to which the Office of Admissions catered to a population that has yet to commit officially to attending Middlebury next year, particularly given the College's financial woes. Welcome tables tricked out with bottled beverages and fancy fruit plates were a surprising sight in wake of the budget cuts that have recently plagued Dining Services; frequent shuttles to Burlington for Preview days participants seemed incongruous with this week's announcement that Middlebury students will have to pay a $50-per-semester fee to keep their cars on campus beginning in the fall.

Yet even in these trying times, there remains a crucial incentive for the College to shell out top dollar for such seemingly extravagant measures. According to the Office of Admissions, 61 percent of Preview days attendees have matriculated at Middlebury over the past three years. This figure trumps the overall yield by nearly 15 percent, and maintaining a high yield rate has, for better or worse, become a hallmark of competitive colleges. The reality is that, as long as Middlebury's peer institutions are hosting similar events, the College must do everything it can to keep supporting and even enhancing the Campus Preview program so that it can continue to attract the best and brightest of its regular decision admits - even if that comes at the cost of Grille pickles and free parking to its current students.