At least 16,800 would-be Brunonians applied for a spot in the Class of 2009, a 10 percent increase from 15,286 applications a year earlier, and admission officers are still counting.
"We're happy about this," said Michael Goldberger, director of admission. "We're just thinking about day-to-day getting our work done at this point - just reading and evaluating," he added. "The only thing that we try to do is make sure that we don't set artificial goals or targets whatsoever."
The number of applicants to the Class of 2009 will undoubtedly set a record for the University - the most applications ever received was 16,806, for the Class of 2004. "We are still opening mail. When all is said and done, this will be the largest applicant group in Brown's history," Goldberger said.
Applicants to the Class of 2004 were the last class to apply under a multiple-choice early action policy. The following year, Brown switched to a single-choice early action policy, finally moving to the current early decision policy for the Class of 2006. These changes led to a sequential decrease in applicant volume.
This year, the Admission Office sent letters of acceptance to 569 students Dec. 15 - 28 percent of an early applicant pool that numbered 2,030. Brown's early acceptance rate has remained relatively unchanged in recent years, hovering between 27 and 29 percent.
Jen Coletta '09, a senior at Pilgrim High School in Warwick, was one of those admitted in December. She credits her acceptance to the variety of extracurricular activities in which she participated throughout high school, including numerous choral groups, karate, drama club and sign language classes.
"I think Brown is the type of school that looks for that type of thing. I mean - I had good academics, but I get really into extracurricular stuff and volunteer work, so I think that's why I got in," she said, citing a cousin with a spotless academic record who also applied early but was deferred. "I felt ridiculously excited, because I've always wanted to go to Brown. I was absolutely elated," Coletta said.
The Admission Office rejects about 15 percent of early applicants each year. That means 57 percent of the early applicant pool's decisions were deferred until spring, and for many of those students, the chances of getting an acceptance letter in April seem slimmer than ever.
One of those students, Sam Bloch, a senior at Oak Park River Forest High School in Oak Park, Ill., is already evaluating other options for next fall. "I assume that I'm not getting in, but the fact that there's still a chance is really tantalizing and it really sucks," he said. "I might as well just hedge my bets and stick to Vassar or Wesleyan."
One anxious applicant from Minnesota even has an entire blog devoted to what he calls "The Brown Decision," relaying his reaction to his deferral and counting down the days until he hears in April from the Admission Office. "I'm going to be a freshman at Brown this fall," he wrote after checking his decision online in December. "Mark my words."
The Admission Office defers so many students not because their applications are lacking but largely in the interest of being fair, according to Goldberger. "It's really (for us) to get a sense of who else is in the pool - just being fair to everybody, making sure that every applicant that applies has a chance," he said.
"I get lots of e-mails from kids asking, 'What can I do to strengthen my application?' There's really nothing (they can do)," he said. "Occasionally there are kids who will strengthen their applications with really great first-semester grades, but that's not specifically what we're looking for."
Early applications increased by 8 percent this year, but the change is insignificant compared to the increase in total applications, which numbers in the thousands.
While the Admission Office always welcomes increases in the applicant pool, the news is not so good for many students around the world who slate Brown as their first-choice school - the University will be harder to get into this year than ever before. Last year, Brown's overall admission rate was 17 percent.
Goldberger cited several possible reasons for the significant increase in applicants this year. "The ($100 million Sidney) Frank gift, for financial aid, I think really made people think positively about Brown," he said, mentioning that President Ruth Simmons' academic initiatives have also piqued public interest in the University. The University's higher placement in U.S. News and World Report's 2005 America's Best Colleges rankings - 13th in the nation this year, up from 17th in 2004 - also caught the attention of potential applicants, Goldberger said.
"You'd like to say, 'Oh, that doesn't mean anything, and how can you quantify these things,' but people pay a lot of attention to (national rankings)," he said. "I think that for some kids or families, it gets them up on the radar screen. It gets them paying attention."
Regular decision applications were due Jan. 1. The University's final decisions will be mailed to students April 1.
