By Shana SagerThe Daily Northwestern
A record number of high school seniors submitted applications to be part of Northwestern’s class of 2011 – up 19 percent from last year.
Applications totaled 21,839, which includes about 2,000 applications from international students.
The increase in overall applicants is due in part to NU’s decision to accept the Common Application for the first time this year, said Michael Mills, associate provost for university enrollment. The Common Application is used by 320 universities across the country, making it easier for students to apply to more schools.
But, Mills said, the university’s applicant pool also grew last year, even before the switch to the Common Application.
This year’s jump in applications was a “continuation of the buzz that we started to create about NU last year,” Mills said.
Keith Todd, director of undergraduate admissions, said years of expanded recruitment also helped spread the word about NU.
Last fall, recruiters visited 50 U.S. cities and eight countries, including Japan, China and France. This increased presence abroad has resulted in a 54 percent increase in international student applications from last year.
“It gives a sense, especially on the East and West coasts, that this university stands toe-to-toe with the best universities in their neck of the woods,” Todd said.
With so many applicants, NU will have to be more selective than it has been in years past, Todd said.
About 30 percent of last year’s applicants were accepted, Mills said, and this year that number will drop to about 25 percent. Mills said he expects to enroll about 2,025 freshmen – 572 of whom already have been admitted as early decision applicants.
Some other universities are experiencing increases in the 8 to 10 percent range. But NU’s numbers are on the “high end,” said Dr. Kristine Dillon, president of the Consortium on Financing Higher Education, a research think tank for issues such as admissions and financial aid at 31 highly selective universities, including NU.
“Other schools have adopted the Common Application without seeing such dramatic increases,” Dillon said. “Part of it is that NU is being perceived very positively by students applying to schools.”
With an increase in applicants and a fixed class enrollment, however, more people will be rejected, she said.
“It automatically sends a message that NU is harder to get into,” she added.
Madeline Lubenow, a senior at Hinsdale Central High School in Hinsdale, Ill., is one of NU’s Regular Decision applicants awaiting an answer.
“I want to go to a school with people who have worked just as hard as I have to get where I am and who are just as motivated,” she said.
Lubenow added that many of her classmates at Hinsdale Central also applied to NU.
“It’s really intimidating just because everyone knows that getting into NU is really, really difficult,” she said.
Standardized test scores also show that acceptance to NU is becoming more difficult. This year’s applicants have an average SAT score of 1454 and ACT of 31.1, Mills said. Eighty-six percent of them are in the top 10 percent of their class.
But NU admissions isn’t all about numbers.
According to Mills, many of NU’s competitors lack music, theatre and journalism programs. Because of this, NU can’t be directly compared to them.
“We are looking for talented people that may or may not have the SAT,” Mills said. “There will be variation among the schools at NU.”
Pedro Falci, a senior at American Heritage High School in Plantation, Fla., applied to NU after attending the Cherub program for journalism last summer.
“I found out that NU had Medill and it’s one of the best schools in the country for journalism,” Falci said. “I liked what I saw (at Cherubs), and I liked what they told me about studying at NU as an undergrad.”
Todd said he hopes the rising number of applicants will attract even more qualified students in the future.
“Hopefully for our current students, it is exciting news that our reputation is expanding even faster,” Todd said.
Reach Shana Sager at [email protected].
