Binghamton University’s increasing number of applicants year after year is helping to maintain its reputation and popularity, according to University faculty and staff. The additional attention has resulted in the school not implementing its policy of rolling admission this year.
‘We manage the applicant poll in such a way that we make sure we admit the best students, and if we did rolling there might have been better students coming in and we wouldn’t have had room for them,’ said Cheryl Brown, director of undergraduate admissions. ‘So we agreed at the University to let the applicant pool develop to a pretty good level before we made our final decision.’
The University hopes to send the regular decisions this week.
Last year’s total number of received freshman applications was 22,800 at the end of the season, which is usually the first of April, Brown said. As of last week the University had received 24,700 applications, and there is still the possibility of more applicants.
Likewise, the number of transfer applications has also increased. With at least three more months until the end of the transfer application season, the number so far, 2,300, is more than half of last year’s total of roughly 3,500.
BU boasts one of the highest graduation rates for public universities in the entire country, and Brown maintains this also factors into the interest of college bound students.
‘Among public universities, we have the third best graduation rate in the country. And that means that students are not leaving, they’re staying and getting their degree done in the time they should,’ she said.
In addition to possessing one of the highest graduation and retention rates in the country, the school’s affordability and positive word of mouth contribute to the growing interest in the school.
‘Applications have gone up considerably over the last few years. We’ve had an upward trend of interest in the University,’ Brown said.
Vice President for Enrollment Management Sandra Starke expressed a similar sentiment to that of Brown, suggesting that publications like Kiplinger’s and Fiske help to solidify BU’s young reputation. Additionally, the fact that students’ SAT scores are well above the national average shows the school’s competitive stability, according to Starke.
Also adding to the school’s reputation is the increasing formation of BU legacy families.
‘We have more and more alumni sending their children to visit us each year,’ said Starke.
But alumni are not the only people coming to visit BU. According to Kishan Zuber, assistant director of campus visits, visitor numbers have increased over the past five years, and will probably continue to do so during the current academic year. From January 2006 to December of the same year, campus had about 26,000 visitors.
‘August is our busiest month in terms of number of people visiting campus. This past August we had 1,255 students come to visit, plus another 2,100 family members and friends,’ said Zuber, who added that April is another popular visitation month because of the open houses held at that time.