Across the nation, college admissions staffs are digging through applications and beginning to predict their enrollment numbers for the fall, just as they do at this time every year. Based on what he has heard from colleges, David A. Hawkins, director of public policy and research for the National Association for College Admission Counseling, describes 2009 as “a typical admissions yearâ??with a big asterisk.”
As in previous admissions cycles, however, generalizations are difficult. So far, Indiana University at Bloomington has received about 10 percent more applications than it did last year, but the number at the University of Wisconsin at Madison was down slightly in its early count, as of last week.
That dip surprised Thomas D. Reason, Madison’s associate director of admissions, but he said that recent changes in the admissions processâ??raising the application fee and moving from rolling admissions to a system with two decision periodsâ??might explain the drop.