Last year, Fairfield set a record for its largest applicant pool for admission: 8,035 prospective students vied for spots to be part of the class of 2010.
But that record has already been broken.
Fairfield has received 8,532 applications for the class of 2011, a 6 percent increase from last year’s total, said Director of Admissions Karen Pellegrino.
Fairfield is not the only university seeing an increase in its applicant pool. Colleges and universities across the country have reported record-breaking numbers of applicants over the last few years.
Since attending college has become a prerequisite for obtaining various jobs, like high school had been 50 years ago, more people are obtaining college degrees.
But the recent application surge may also be a result of universities’ new recruitment tools to attract applicants.
Some schools, such as Harper College in Illinois, draw students by offering “fast track” applications, which can be filled out online for a reduced fee.
Today, applying to college can also be considered much simpler as more schools use the Common Application as their base document. Students are, therefore, not required to do more than edit particulars, including the school’s name or location, when sending essays to different colleges.
Schools also try to attract students to apply by waiving application fees or the completion of parts of the application itself.
Pellegrino said the availability of e-mail applications is also a factor in the recent rise.
“Students now have the ability to apply electronically to many schools, which makes the process considerably easier. As a result, students file more applications than in years past,” she said.
According to the Web site for the College Board, a not-for-profit association whose mission is to connect students to college success, the main reason for the application increase is “that high school seniors are applying to 20 or more colleges rather than the traditional five to eight.”
Lindsay Maroney ’10 said she applied to 20 schools during her senior year of high school.
“Although Fairfield was my first choice, I, along with my parents, wanted to have many options,” she said.
However, Allison Floyd ’10 only applied to six schools.
“I actually didn’t have a first choice, but I had a lot of safeties. I wanted to keep my options open,” she said.
Admissions officers are likely to see applications pile up on their desks as schools continue to use aggressive and innovative recruitment tactics to attract applicants.
“The undergraduate admission staff continues to travel widely and develop new marketing techniques which also help to attract applicants,” said Pellegrino. “This includes visits to high schools, receptions in designated areas and campus programs.”
According to College Board, this application frenzy is making admissions more selective.
“Because colleges are suddenly receiving so many applications, they are naturally sending out more rejection letters than ever before. While you may have gotten in there easily at one time, you are now less likely to be accepted,” the Web site stated.
Acceptance rates at Fairfield have steadily been increasing, however. For the class of 2005, the acceptance rate was 49.16 percent compared with 74.39 percent for the class of 2009.
But admissions officers at Fairfield are conscious of high acceptance rates to avoid overcrowding, especially with current housing issues.
Although the increase in applications may disgruntle admissions officers and create a more selective admissions rate, the Fairfield admissions staff believes a bigger applicant pool can only make a university stronger in terms of academics and diversity.
Pellegrino said that the 2011 applicant pool reflected a 20 percent increase in the number of AHANA students from last year.
Pellegrino added that studies show that the number of high school students in the United States will continue to rise only until 2009, at which point the numbers will begin to decrease.
“We may see some decrease in the number of applications at that time, but it is impossible to predict,” she said.
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