Northwestern will send congratulatory emails today to 4,800 high school seniors it recently accepted. Now it’s up to them to accept NU.
The admissions office and NU’s schools are using various methods of attracting students to the class of 2006.
Trustee Ben Slivka, whose name will adorn the new Slivka Residential College, called about 15 prospective computer science students last month to talk to them about issues such as dorm life and deferring several years to go on a religious mission.
“The most surprising question was how hard NU is and would they have time for a social life,” said Slivka, McCormick ’82. “Usually these were candidates who were picked for high academic abilities, so I thought they wouldn’t have been concerned.”
NU accepted 33.6 percent of the 14,280 applicants, a smaller acceptance rate than last year’s 34.2 percent. Rebecca Dixon, the associate provost for university enrollment, said the school was stingier with acceptance letters because it received about 300 more applications than last year.
“We intended to admit about the same number of students as last year,” Dixon said. “That actually is a somewhat smaller percentage. The class was overly large last year by about 25 students.”
Dixon said the university would not release racial and regional breakdowns of students.
“Then people start to make all kinds of wrong conclusions about why you admitted this many of this race,” she said.
Dixon said she had not yet heard of any admitted students sending in their tuition deposits.
“We don’t know exactly what the response will be,” Dixon said. “Will all the Illinois students come because they want to stay close to home or, even though we had a higher number, will they turn out feeling more comfortable going to Stanford or Cornell or whatever their other choices are?”
Applications from Illinois students jumped by about 11 percent. Denise Brown, director of the college and career center at Evanston Township High School, said most students would take their time in deciding where they want to go. Fifty-three ETHS students applied to NU.
“Some students are waiting for financial aid packages, some are using Spring Break next week to re-visit colleges,” Brown said. “I think this group is going to use the time between now and May 1 to weigh their decisions.”
The admissions office recently redesigned its Web site to attract prospective students, and the School of Music and the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences also changed their prospective student Web sites.
High school senior Nathan Tighe, 17, has not yet found out whether he was accepted to the School of Music. Although he is nervous about waiting for that letter, he said he is comforted by his acceptances to other respectable schools.
“Being a trumpet player, (attending NU) is almost like a pilgrimage to Mecca, if you will,” said Tighe, who is from Danville, Calif. “At this point, whatever happens, happens.”
