Girl Power!

Remember the nerve-racking and seemingly endless road to college application completion? Remember the agonizing wait for April 15 and the heart-pounding anticipation for the “Congratulations on your acceptance to…” letter?

During their journey through the endless college applications, the class of 2004 strayed from the normal trend of Fairfield enrollment. Being 60 percent female, thta leaves only 40 percent male for this class. To add to this, in general, the university received more acceptances from prospective students than any other class, making it larger than the average 825 Fairfield freshmen class.

“Well, of course being a male at this school, I enjoy having the 60/40 ratio in favor of females,” Mike Cipollino ’04 said. “But, what I really like about the make up of Fairfield goes beyond the numbers – it’s the quality of person that the university has been able to recruit that has made my experience most meaningful thus far.”

So what exactly does it take to become a student here?

The Office of Admissions has to take into account the balance between males and females, academic history, the balance between majors, and the opportunity to expand diversity by ethnicity and geographic location.

“We tend to have an obsession with big name schools,” Judy Dobai, director of admissions said. “We value that in our society, and not what fits with the person.”

For the class of 2001, 68 percent of undergraduate applicants were accepted, while only 49 percent of applications were accepted for the class of 2006.

Of the applicants accepted in 2001, 44 percent of them were in the top 25 percentile of their high school class. A whopping 70 percent from the class of 2006 ranked in the top 25 percentile of their high school class.

“Fairfield is comprised of 56 percent female and 44 percent male. Compared to nationwide college enrollment data, Fairfield is amongst the norm for nationwide colleges. In 2002, college enrollment consisted of 57 percent female and 43 percent male nationwide.

Many students believe the Office of Admissions will alter their admission standards to make up for the lack of an equal male/female ratio.

“I really notice the few number of guys since I am a psychology major, and there are very few guys in the program,” said Kate Tully ’05. “I think they should do a better job of making the ratio more even in the future.”

Dobai clearly states that profiling will not done.

“The main focus is diversifying,” Dobai said. “We are bringing in students who add a great deal to the community at Fairfield. At the same time, we want to maintain equal enrollment.”

Some students support the Office of Admissions.

“I don’t think that the school should or will sacrifice their admission standards to favor one sex over another to balance the ratio,” Cipollino added.

The last time Fairfield was even close to a 50/50 female to male ratio was in 1978, with 52 percent being male and 48 percent being female.

“It is unrealistic that Fairfield will go 50/50,” Dobai said.

“We want to diversify the student body as close to even as possible, but we’re not going to hurt Fairfield by bringing in unqualified students,” Dobai said. “We want to bring in students who add to the wonderful institution.”

Dobai reported that next year’s freshman class will consist of approximately 850 freshmen. Despite the hostage situation at the university and 9/11 last year, Dobai reported that applicants have been affected largely by the economy, which may be the ultimate reason for not attending college at all.