Middlebury Receives Record Number of Applications

Colleges & Universities Middlebury College
1

<p>The Office of Admissions has received a record 7,680 applications for the Middlebury Class of 2012, a seven-percent jump in the number of applicants compared to last year. Admissions officials expect the pool to grow to roughly 7,800 as they continue to receive applications that were mailed before Jan. 1, the postmark deadline.</p>

<p>The Class of 2011 was targeted to be 600 students, but 640 enrolled, not including February-admitted students. This growth was the result of a yield of around 46 percent, a two-percentage-point increase from the yield for the Class of 2010. The Class of 2012 is targeted to comprise 570 regular and 90 February students. Because of the potential for a high yield of matriculations of admitted students, the College may cut back the number of acceptances this year.</p>

<p>“The combination of the fact that we anticipate the possibility of a higher yield, in addition to a bigger pool of applicants, means we will have the lowest admit rate in Middlebury history,” Clagett explained.</p>

<p>[Applications</a> reach record level - News](<a href=“http://media.www.middleburycampus.com/media/storage/paper446/news/2008/01/10/News/Applications.Reach.Record.Level-3148378.shtml]Applications”>http://media.www.middleburycampus.com/media/storage/paper446/news/2008/01/10/News/Applications.Reach.Record.Level-3148378.shtml)</p>

2

<p>The increase in applicants is obviously good news for Midd, and continues a trend that has been evident for several years. The 2008 number can be compared with historic numbers from the Midd [Common</a> Data Sets](<a href=“http://www.middlebury.edu/administration/instres/fall02_cds.htm]Common”>http://www.middlebury.edu/administration/instres/fall02_cds.htm):</p>

<p>2008: 7,800 (estimated)
2007: 7,180
2006: 6,205
2005: 5,254
2004: 5,122</p>

<p>It would be interesting to know if the 2008 numbers continue another trend: the increasing “feminization” of Midd’s applicant pool. This is an issue at many (perhaps most) schools nationwide, but Midd is particularly affected. The CDS data show the following trend in the relative numbers of female/male applicants:</p>

<p>2008: ?
2007: 38.9 % more female applicants
2006: 35.2 % more female applicants
2005: 31.5 % more female applicants
2004: 25.2 % more female applicants</p>

<p>Since Midd (like most other schools) wants to maintain a balanced enrollment in spite of an unbalanced applicant pool, the acceptance rate for male applicants has become significantly higher than that for female applicants. For 2007, the acceptance rate was 24.5 % for males and 17.8 % for females. If previous trends continued in 2008, then this discrepancy may have increased.</p>