While universities nationwide saw a spike in the number of freshman applicants seeking admission for the class of 2010, the University's applicant pool remained relatively stable, growing by 1.6 percent according to Admissions Dean John Blackburn.
According to an article this past Monday in USA Today, some schools are recording as much as a 21 percent increase in applications, prompting admissions deans around the country to reduce the proportion of acceptances.
"I can tell you the [University's] numbers are up slightly -- about 1.6 percent," for regular admissions, Blackburn said.
For early decision, the number of applications received is not significantly different than last year, Blackburn added.
Because of the modest increase in applications, Blackburn said he thinks getting into the University this year will be slightly more difficult.
"Since we're going to be looking for the same size class, we will be slightly more selective," Blackburn said. "We review all the factors that might affect the response to acceptance. I don't see anything dramatic that could cause a change, so we will have to be slightly tougher."
Blackburn attributed the nationwide increase to a number of factors, highlighted by the fact that most students apply to more schools today then in the past.
One factor that has contributed to the increase in applications is widespread use of the Common Application, Blackburn said. The Common Application is a standardized form allowing students to fill out basic information that can be used to apply to any of the 277 affiliated universities, according to the Common Application Web site.
The majority of schools which accept the Common Application are private colleges, Blackburn said, though there are currently two public universities that take it. The University is considering accepting the Common Application sometime in the future, he added.
Blackburn said some colleges may have changed their applications to make it easier to apply, and he speculated this also could have caused the spike.
"A lot of stuff like that is going on to drive up the numbers," Blackburn said. "I think this is related to the level of selectivity. The more applications you turn down, the more selective you are for the U.S. News rankings."
Schools in the Commonwealth followed the national trend of increased application rates. James Madison University received 2,000 more applications than last year, bringing their total up to around 18,100, according to Michael David Walsh, the director of admissions at JMU.
Walsh attributed the increase to more targeted recruitment.
"Part of the increase is in-state, part out-of-state," Walsh said. "We have done more targeted recruiting out-of- state. There was a significant increase in the targeted areas -- North Carolina and parts of the Northeast and Midwest and New England."
Virginia Tech also received a greater number of applications this year-- nearly 19,000 or about a 7.5 percent increase from last year, said Norrine Bailey Spencer, associate provost and director of undergraduate admissions for Virginia Tech.
"This is an all-time high for us," Spencer said. "The previous all-time high was in 2001."
Spencer said she thought Tech's recruitment also influenced the increased number of applications.
"We have an excellent academic program and a wonderful campus," Spencer said. "We worked very hard to get the message out about opportunities at Virginia Tech. There were many, many factors."
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