M.I.T. Considers Increase in Student Body by 300

[oldfort]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/ed...&sq=mit&st=cse

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is considering expanding its student body by more than 7 percent, or more than 300 students, if it is able to create additional student housing, the dean of admission, Stuart Schmill, said Thursday.

“It’s not driven by the revenue piece,” Mr. Schmill said. “It’s really bringing us back to an undergraduate enrollment we had.”

But high school seniors who might wonder whether more slots will be available this spring, take note: Mr. Schmill said that if the university expanded its student body, it might not do so all at once or even through freshman admissions. It could also do so through transfers of upperclassmen, he said.

This is good new for MIT hopefuls.

[mom22girls]

I know there was some anecdotal evidence of increased EA applicants this year - maybe they're responding to that. Let's hope it makes more slots available!

[k4r3n2]

1. Ideas like this have been under consideration for the past ~5 years or so. MIT is constantly trying to come up with ways to increase student enrollment, but it's still probably not going to happen anytime soon.
2. We don't have space for more freshmen due to the limited amount of housing and the current Freshman-on-campus policy, so this would probably be an increase in transfer students.
3. Students have been EXTREMELY upset by the proposals that have been made to make increasing enrollment work, and MIT traditionally has done a pretty decent job of listening to its students. I can point you to some opinion articles in the Tech, our school newspaper, if you're curious, but the administration has promised to get student approval somewhat before making significant changes...so again, this will probably take some time.

In conclusion...don't get excited.

[PRUNEFACE]

Could you post some of those? I'm honestly interested in this topic.

[k4r3n2]

Unfortunately the recent sex survey of campus seems to have clogged up most of the mail at the moment. I did find this article:

Community Critiques Cost-Cutting Ideas in Front of Task Force - The Tech

from the beginning of the year, when the task planning force came out with their suggestions earlier this year. They had several town hall-style meetings for students / staff to voice their concerns.

More recent suggestions have been to decrease the number of campus computers, or to have them sleep for part of the day. So, the way I see it, adding more students is one option that they're exploring, and it's certainly more exciting to outsiders than decreasing the number of campus computers that we have, but I haven't seen any compelling evidence that this will happen anytime soon.

I'll post more articles if I think of anything / if more information becomes available and people are still interested.