UNC Receives an Increase in Applicants, Mails Letters to Class of 2006

But applicants to UNC-Chapel Hill will not have to wait much longer for their envelopes. The UNC-CH Office of Undergraduate Admissions last week sent out the acceptance and denial letters for the class of 2006.

Stephen Farmer, associate director of undergraduate admissions, said the office was more selective this year because there were more applicants than last year.

Farmer said 748 more students applied this year, bringing the total number of applicants to 17,454. But the office admitted 502 fewer students, which Farmer said is "significantly lower than last year."

Farmer said that because the office aimed for a freshman class of 3,500 for the 2002-03 academic year, only 5,839 applicants were admitted. He said this figure is mainly a response to last year's over-enrollment. The office aimed for 3,500 students in the class of 2005, but 3,687 enrolled.

Farmer said there is no concrete way to determine how many students to admit to meet the admissions goal. "Predicting the number of students who'll say yes to you is a tricky thing," Farmer said. "It's an art, not a science."

Farmer said the office aimed for 3,500 students again this year because it was a number in line with earlier projections. "The University enrollment is more or less negotiated with the office of the (UNC-system) president," Farmer said.

The University usually determines enrollment goals for a particular class a few years in advance. Farmer said enrollment goals are established when the University does its biennial budget.

But the number of students projected to enroll for a given class are not etched in stone. "The projections may be fine-tuned once you get closer to the year you're talking about," Farmer said.

Because of grim budget projections, UNC-system officials began looking this year at tuition to fund future enrollment growth. Last month, the UNC-system Board of Governors passed a systemwide tuition increase of 8 percent for in-state students and 12 percent for out-of-state students to support enrollment growth.

In response, the UNC-CH Faculty Council passed a resolution expressing the need to slow enrollment growth to maintain the quality of education in the face of budget cuts, although the idea is not supported by BOG members.

But Farmer said the state's budget problems had little effect on this year's admissions decisions. He said that the office made projections before the budget cuts but that the cuts did have some impact.

He said the office is more sensitive to over-enrollment to keep class size reasonable and to protect the University's quality of education. "(The budget cuts) reminded everyone here that we need to treat students well when we admit them and when we enroll them," Farmer said.

The percentage of in-state and out-of-state students projected to enroll has not changed significantly since last year. "There is a very firm limit on the out-of-state enrollment here in the freshman class," said Farmer. State legislation limits the number of out-of-state students in an incoming class to 18 percent.

Out-of-state students made up 17.4 percent of those admitted for next year.

The number of students admitted early decision this year -- 825 -- is about 14 percent of the total number of admitted students. Farmer said this number has been consistent for the three years UNC-CH has offered early admissions decisions.

Admitting fewer students overall, however, could be a problem if fewer than the projected number of students enroll. Farmer said the applicants on the waitlist provide a "cushion" in case that happens. "They're students we wish we could've enrolled," said Farmer about applicants on the waitlist. "If we had more room, we'd like to see them in the class."

Farmer said there likely will be 800 to 1,000 students on the waitlist, 50 percent of whom will be out-of-state applicants.

Farmer said the admissions office has tough decisions to make when accepting or declining students. He said that there is no formula the office uses and that students do not receive "points" for different characteristics.

Farmer said the office typically looks at an individual's performance in high school, performance compared to the entire applicant pool, academic preparation and potential contributions to the University's campus.

"We try as best we can to make decisions that seem fair and equitable."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.