UMCP is only accepting transfers with a deadline of 6/1, and those looking to attend the commuter satellite campus in Shady Grove.
One thing that frustrated me in the past is that they take down previous year’s lists. Not that I am keen on going back and doing statistics on them. 
But occasionally I’d like to show someone the previous year’s list as an example if they know their choices are all not workable for them for some reason after acceptances come in, but before this year’s list is available.
This list only means they are accepting applications. None of the responses detail an ACCEPTANCE! Anybody? I would be interested to know if the students were full pay, selected major, etc.
@intparent – you can download the info to Excel. I think this is how I did it. After downloading the full table, go to File (within Google Doc, not Safari), then Download as Excel. I have the past couple of years saved. I may have more, but I cannot figure out what I called them or where I stashed them!
Or it’s a college that is looking to continually expand and has housing availability for freshmen. I know my oldest’s college is often on the list and about 5 years ago they built a new dorm. Every year I’ve noticed in the alumni magazine that enrollment has been creeping up and there are now consistantly about 500 more freshmen than in 2007. The enrollment had been pretty stable through the 70s, 80s, 90s and into the early 20s and then came a new president and a growth strategy. I know another college that shows up on the Michigan list consistently is in the same situation - looking for growth and has housing for freshmen. I don’t think you can make any broad assumptions about the colleges and unis on this list with the exception that there always is a surprise or two and I’ve been looking at it every year for 10 years.
@intparent - they changed the page address this year, but for 2014-15-16 it was the same, and those are archived.
Thanks for so many enlightening responses. Many of them definitely give more clarity to a number of perfectly normal reasons that some colleges might appear on this list.
@twocollegekids , I am guessing that a student who wants to pursue details as to what types of applicants they are looking for (majors, full pay,etc…) it is up to a student to contact admissions.
@icemaker Beloit is always on the list since I’ve been looking at it. See #56. I didn’t name it in that post, but I’ve named my D’s school before, so I’m not sharing anything that couldn’t be found if someone looked at my posts. Lawrence has been on it before. That was my D’s second choice school, so I look for it.
Thank you for the correction regarding Lawrence, but I couldn’t find Beloit mentioned in the CC thread in either 2016 or 2015 (but I may be just missing it).
For those interested in seeing how this year’s list compares to the list for other years, searching the CC archives gives you a pretty good idea of who was on the list in year’s past. And in 2016, someone had the foresight to download the entire 2016 list of schools with openings:.
Kind of a fun waste of time.
Icemaker I couldn’t open your link. Darn, was really hoping to procrastinate…
Suwannee has reduced average merit aid awards over the last few years and increased tuition by $5,000 this year. Perhaps that explains Suwannee’s appearance on the list.
A lot of people are saying the colleges want more full-pay students, but then why advertise available financial aid?
Just some thoughts: less int’l students applying, LACs that don’t offer pre-professonal majors might lose applicants to schools that offer them, schools like Sewanee that are great, but hard to get to, schools not close enough to a major city, schools that don’t have enough name recognition…
I also believe that there are parents who will pay big tuition for name brand schools, but would rather do their state univ then pay for a small LAC that their friends and relatives haven’t heard of.
@ 2mrmagoo
What are the kids at Whitman like? I can’t find much about students or the school’s reputation on CC except for this thread.
On Sewanee – I thought the merit and tuition were separately timed – that initially, Sewanee has dropped its tuition to lows $30s and stopped giving substantial merit – kind of like no-negotiating/best price new car pricing. Then, Sewanee found it was not working the way it hoped so went back to the “traditional” pricing model of comparable list price with larger merit awards available.
@Berrycupcake , please post on the Whitman forum, where you will get more specific responses. I am letting you know in an annoying mom way that you are hijacking my thread:-). As far as getting a feel for Whitman, my D did her research on Niche, Uni Go, Fiske guide, and other resources.
@crazymamaB , sorry I confused you with citymama9.
Many of the schools on the list are pretty small. Another 25 students makes a big difference to a school of 1500 and nothing at all to a school of 15000.
By being on the list they aren’t saying they’ll take anyone who applies, but that they do have some room.
There is always a surprise or two every year. Whitman is a fantastic college, and I’m surprised it’s on there this year. But I also see a trend on CC towards urban colleges, and also either ones in CA or the NE. Neither the PNW or the Midwest have that kind of draw so I’m not surprised to see that some great colleges are listed here. My D loved our Whitman visit, but it lost out to another great LAC across the country.
It frustrating as a PA resident to see Penn State make the list this year as well. It has been a fine engineering and business school but thanks to Penn State board they expanded too fast. There are more campuses now than a few decades ago. This has diluted Penn State name and has wrecked the PASSHE schools as well. Both PASSHE schools and CCs are struggling to admit good students. I haven’t seen any other big name university make it to the list…Sad…
I’m just starting to familiarize myself with art schools for DS21. (Totally different direction than DS17!) Does anyone who looks at this list from year to year know if it is odd for CalArts to be on there? I thought they were really selective as far as art schools.