Decreasing admission rates for undergraduate colleges are a nationwide trend this year; however, Whitman College is the exception to this rule. In contrast to last year, where 46.7 percent of applicants were admitted, 51.5 percent of prospective students were admitted this year, exceeding 50 percent for the first time since 2003. In total, of the 3,208 applications received, 1,654 students were admitted.
The increase in students admitted this year comes as a result of fewer Early Decision (ED) applications received and accepted. Because of this, the Admission Office has had to compensate by accepting more Regular Decision (RD) applicants this year than in most past years. For the Class of 2014, 127 students were accepted for ED enrollment, but this year the college had only accepted 86 students, meaning the office had to admit more RD students in order to end up with a reasonable class size.
According to Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Tony Cabasco, the college wants to have approximately 405 students for the incoming class, which would make it smaller than the Class of 2014. However, yield : the number of accepted students who actually decide to attend Whitman : has been declining, forcing the Office of Admission to admit more students in order to meet this goal.
“We want to have a smaller entering class; the goal is to enroll 405 new students,” Cabasco said. “In looking at the make up of the pool of admitted students, we think based on the trends regarding the mood of the general public and what’s happening with the economy, we project that we’ll have a lower yield overall.”
Every year, the Admission Office has to make a projection of how many students it anticipates it will accept to Whitman depending on a number of factors ranging from students’ ability to pay and the amount of financial aid given yearly. However, the college can sometimes be wrong in the predictions; often, more students are accepted than the college anticipates.
“We do our best to manage current trends, anticipate changes and plan accordingly every year, but sometimes our projections can be off,” Cabasco said.
Evidence of this can be seen for Whitman’s current Class of 2014. According to Cabasco, it was predicted that around 415 students would enroll, but that prediction was exceeded with a total enrollment of 440, the largest incoming class the school has ever had. Numerous consequences have resulted from the larger class, including bigger intro-level classes and a higher discount rate.
Because there have been more accepted students for the 2011-12 school year than the year before, both current and incoming students are worried about the possibility of the nature of Whitman changing with a potentially larger incoming class.
“It is worrisome if this is a trend that keeps increasing every year,” said incoming student Colin Brinton, who is currently a senior in high school.
Sophomore Al-Rahim Merali, hopes that Whitman can afford to compete amongst other small liberal arts colleges if more students are accepted to and enroll in Whitman year after year.
“What makes Whitman so marketable and such an attractive option for undergraduate education is that it is a small school and possesses a very tight sense of community, and I’m worried that if this trend continues then Whitman may be looked at differently as an institution,” he said.
