Why an increase in college applications?!

[Faulkner1897]

Not many colleges release detailed information about their entire applicant pool this early in the year, but I have found Yale to be particularly transparent about the admissions process and its applicant pool. A few days ago, there was a Yale Daily News article that shared the data on the Class of 2022 applicant pool: https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2018/01/30/yale-receives-record-number-of-apps/

A few pertinent excerpts from the article:

Yale College received the largest number of applications in its history this admissions cycle, with 35,305 high schoolers vying for a spot in the class of 2022.

This year’s figure dwarfs last year’s by 7.3 percent, marking the highest single uptick in applications in at least the last five years. Last year, the number of applications rose around 5 percent from 31,439 for the Class of 2020 to 32,891 for the Class of 2021. Before that, the number of applications rose by 4 percent, from 30,227 for the Class of 2019. The steep rise in applications comes in the wake of the opening of Yale’s two new residential colleges, which are on track to increase the size of the undergraduate student body by about 800 students.

[Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Jeremiah Quinlan] said it is impossible to directly attribute changes in the applicant pool to particular outreach strategies. Nevertheless, over the five-year period between the 2012–2013 application cycle and the current one, applications from groups that the admissions office specifically tracks have continuously outpaced the overall increase.

According to [Associate Director of Admissions Mark Dunn ’07], over the past five years, applications have seen an overall growth rate of 19 percent, while the number of applications from U.S. citizens and permanent residents who identify as a member of a minority racial or ethnic group has increased by 40 percent. The number of applications from prospective first-generation college students has increased 37 percent during this time frame and applications from domestic students living in lower-income census tracts have increased by 113 percent.

Dunn described the last figure as “especially exciting” because, since 2013, the admissions office has targeted students living in these areas with its direct mailing campaign in order to highlight Yale’s affordability. Over the summer, Yale expanded the campaign to reach more than 30,000 high-achieving students who are likely to be from low-income households.

I found this article to be interesting, because I always wondered if it was the international pool that was driving the increase in applications. According to this article, for Yale it could be the “groups that the admissions office specifically tracks” that are driving the increase: U.S. citizens and permanent residents who identify as a member of a minority racial or ethnic group (up 40%), first generation college students (up 37%), domestic students living in lower-income census tracts (up 113%).