<p>I just saw in the NYTimes that applications to Amherst declined 8.2% compared to last year (numbers went from 8,565 last year to 7,863 this year). Williams also was down 3.3% (they had 6,836 applications for the class of 2017).</p>
<p>I’m curious to know why you think apps are down at Amherst. Was it because of the negative publicity surrounding sexual assaults (and the recent suicide)? Or is it because even high-achieving students don’t bother to apply thinking they don’t have much of a chance? Something else I’m missing?</p>
<p>Given the unbelievably low admit rate during the past years, fewer kids are bothering to apply. After you hear enough horror stories about students with perfect records getting denied, word gets out and some lose interest. Same deal at Williams (though their applications dropped about 4%.) Applications to most of the ivy league school were flat (more-or-less). Also, at some point tuition sticker price is going to get in the way, despite extraordinary fin aid at these schools. For the selective schools, it’s more important who enrolls than raw application numbers.</p>
<p>Declining acceptance rates don’t seem to discourage applicants. If anything, it seems to encourage them.</p>
<p>I think it is the bad press that’s depressing the numbers. Particularly the NY times lengthy articles this past fall.</p>
<p>As a parent of a prospective student (a junior) the articles gave me pause, and I’m excited about Amherst. We are visiting this spring. I can imagine for many families it may have just been enough of a reason to prune Amherst from their list. There are so many great options and only so many applications one can pour their heart in to as needed for admission,</p>
<p>I think it was because of the high cost and perhaps some students being put off by how tough it is to get accepted. I highly doubt it had anything to do with the events of the fall. Everyone knows that almost every college and university has some problems with student drinking, sexual assaults, and rarely suicides. Anyone who is well-read knows that this is not unique to Amherst. In fact, Amherst’s president is doing amazing things to combat this type of culture. My son will be attending Amherst this coming fall. I’m more comfortable having him go there,where Pres. Biddie Martin is so actively combatting this problem, than go to many other schools (several prestigious state universities and several selective smaller colleges come to mind) where the problem is rampant but pushed under the rug.</p>
<p>@jenneieling: Most of the schools in the NYTime’s list showed increases in applicants, and many are similar to Amherst in terms of cost and selectivity - for example Bates, Bowdoin, Yale, Brown Duke, Stanford. Why didn’t they also show significant decreases in applicants?</p>
<p>Regardless of the reasons, Amherst is a great college. For us it was a choice between Williams and Amherst. Williams won out due to press while we were making final decisions. Swarthmore was always on list after she did flyin visit.</p>
<p>For the students that applied, hopefully this will improve your chances of getting into this terrific school.</p>
<p>It is hard to ignore the press and write off the drop in admissions to anything else. Look at Dartmouth (and their drop in applications) which has received similar bad press and has to live with the same kind of reputation whether deserved or not. While we would all like to look at the schools that our kids choose to go to favorably, if we ignore the obvious, we just end up contributing to the problems. Yes, this President seems to be addressing the problems that exist, but to excuse them because they exist everywhere as other posters have suggested doesn’t make much sense. Amherst will survive this small drop off in applications and hopefully will become more sensitive to these kinds of issues. There is no doubt, it is a quality institution, but like all, it has flaws.</p>
<p>I think it’s the rape. I had 4 or 5 friends who were going to apply to amherst (not as a first choice) and after the rape scandal decided not to. I think that really shook people. It shook me. One of my second choices is Wellesley and I decided to apply there after hearing about the rape and how it was dealt with at amherst. It made me reconsider what I needed in a college environment and add a few things to my “requirements list” for colleges that weren’t there before.</p>
<p>There could be many reasons why there was a drop in applicants. It happens to every school. Who knows, it might rise next year. Maybe there aren’t enough people interested in applying to Amherst this year.</p>
<p>Perhaps there’s some correlation with more remote locations losing students and students want livelier environments. I noticed that the biggest increase was at NYU.</p>
<p>Bowdoin has Brunswick, which is bigger than Amherst and certainly bigger than Williamstown.</p>
<p>Agree with EiraRheon about rape. It’s something that gets swept under the rug at many colleges. However, when it involves a high profile institution like Amherst it appears more endemic to the college. </p>
<p>Saratoga Springs, home to Skidmore, is growing like a weed. A silicone chip manufacturer just signed a deal with New York State to build a SECOND multi-Billion (yes, that’s with a B, and I did mention that it’s the second one) chip manufacturing facility there. There is a lot of money and quality development coming to that community. While Albany isn’t a huge city, it’s a State Capital. The metro-area has close to a million people and it’s only 40 minutes from Saratoga.</p>