Application Increases at Universities

Colleges and Universities across the USA are noting marked increases in numbers of applicantions for the Fall 2011 Freshman Class.  What is the cause of this trend?  Many university admissions' officers believe that the increase in the use of the "COMMON APPLICATION" is a key reason why individual universities are seeing application increases.  Instead of plowing through ten different applications, it is very easy to fill out one application and send it to a multitude of schools.  Is this really insuring that students get into the school of their choice?   Not necessarily.  It is still important for students and their families to carefully choose the schools they are applying to.  With increasing applicant pools, schools can afford to be very choosy.  This means it will be harder and harder to get into a university if you do not apply strategically.

At Los Angeles' Loyola Marymount University, Director of Admissions Matthew Fissinger reports a 10.9% increase in applications over last year, with 11,202 applications received by the January 15, 2011 deadline.  This is the largest increase in the past five years.  However, he noted that since 2007 there has been an applicant pool increase each year.  Fissinger reported in the Loyalan, LMU's student newspaper, that he attributes the increase to a number of factors including:  the rise in LMU's reputation, the quality of LMU students' experiences and the small class sizes at LMU.  Word of mouth is quickly spreading from current LMU students to other potential students.  Fishinger also notes that in the last five years, LMU has had a number of significant national rankings, including:  US News & World:  ranking #3 in Best Regional (West) University; Business Week 2009: ranking #13 for their part-time MBA; and Princeton Review (2007): ranking #9th for Most Beautiful Campus.

In 2009 LMU admitted 59.2% of applicants; in 2010 only 54% were admitted.  The admission rate for this years pool of applicants has not been determined.  Letters of acceptance will be going out shortly.