<p>How was Middlebury applications up 15% to 7,960 while just two years ago Middlebury admissions posted the following:
The Middlebury Campus Blog Archive Applications reach record level
Applications reach record level
[10 Jan 2008 | Comments Off | ]</p>
<p>Author: Annabelle Fowler The Office of Admissions has received a record 7,680 applications for the Middlebury Class of 2012, a seven-percent jump in the number of applicants compared to last year. Admissions officials expect the pool to grow to roughly 7,800 as they continue to receive applications that were mailed before Jan. 1, the postmark deadline.</p>
<p>2010 Middlebury Admissions post
21 January 2010 by Adam Schaffer No Comment</p>
<p>With the passage of the Jan. 1 application deadline, the Office of Admissions has begun its process of sifting through thousands of applications to make up the Class of 2014 and 14.5.
While the final application totals are still being counted, the number appears to be around 7,960, a 15 percent increase over last year.
The Middlebury Campus Blog Archive Admissions negotiates record applications</p>
<p>Sunmachine sounds like you work in admissions at Midd. Do you?
Also where would you come up with a statement like this or did you forget that Georgetown University is in DC?</p>
<p>Per Sunmachine; “While I personally would rate Midd higher than any DC school overall, international studies is the one area where the top DC schools are at least on par with Midd”.</p>
<p>So Midd has an international studies program on par with Georgetown’s Foreign Service School? Oh I think Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright may differ with you. Let’s keep the facts and FIGURES accurate.</p>
<p>As for the other quote, maybe it wasn’t very clear. If the DC schools’ int’l programs are “at least on par with Midd,” that, to me, means the DC programs are as good if not better than Midd’s. G-town obviously has a great foreign studies school.</p>
<p>Arcadiot: two years ago Middlebury reported 7800 apps. Last year, by changing the process and only counting fully complete apps (it used to count all apps, even when the final portion was not completed), there were 6904 apps. Still, with the 6904, the actual number of apps read was similar to the year before. </p>
<p>This year, counting the same way as last year (which is now standard operating procedure) — only fully completed apps, the number is just shy of 8000, which is 15%+ up.</p>
<p>As far as international programs are concerned: Midd does not have IR for foreign service, but it has two very popular and rigorous majors — International Politics and Economics and International Studies. Georgetown’s school is not geared as much toward undergraduates though it has star power with Albright, Clinton, and others…but it lacks, especially compared to Middlebury, in languages and individualized mentoring from full-time faculty. In fact, previous posts spoke to Middlebury receiving more transfer apps from Georgetown than any other school for this reason: students seem disappointed with the impersonal nature of the undergraduate foreign service program. Some consider the star power less valuable than consistently small classes, better language study in most languages at Middlebury, and…maybe better skiing. Different experiences; hard to compare.</p>
<p>NorthCountry Cat-Do you work in Midd’s PR dept?</p>
<p>I am still confused as why did apps droped so much last yr?
You reference non-completed apps of over 1000 but I heard US News challenged your app stats and you had to adjust methodology.
Then this year you eliminated essay so of course apps are going to increase.<br>
Will you waive app fee next year?
I find this post of your very misleading:
02-23-2010, 04:13 PM #16
NorthCountryCat
Junior Member</p>
<p>Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 56</p>
<p>Just a FYI: Middlebury’s apps are up 16% and are at record levels. </p>
<p>Finally, your reference to Midd over Georgetown for IR is so baseless as I don’t know any students on campus transferring from GU foreign service school. Do you??</p>
<p>Arcadiot: You don’t do your homework; only engage in unsubstantiated rumor.</p>
<p>US News has never, to anyone’s reported knowledge, pressured or commented on anything. The admissions office decided to change a practice that was in place for many years, which was to discontinue counting apps as they came in (a practice that went back to the pre-common app days). Simple as that. Many of the 7600+ apps two years ago were incomplete (700 or so) and therefore were no longer counted. That led to a drop of 6900 apps. The actual completed applications were flat from the record year before.</p>
<p>This year, the 7960 represent the number of completed apps.</p>
<p>As for eliminating the essay: that was done when what was really an additional essay was deemed less valuable than the time it took to read and assess it. That is, admissions already received essays, so the value added was not worth the time.</p>
<p>And who do you work for with such suspicions and axes to grind?! And why operate on innuendo and rumor rather than simply inquiring about “things [you] heard?” From whom did you hear such silly things (as if US News contacts colleges about data: if anything, they have backed off so colleges will not boycott the survey)?</p>
<p>Sorry I was not more logical in my prospective. So here is the simple*math logic:
Numerator over denominator = admit rate
Lower admit rate = “prestige” rate
*
Steps to achieve “prestige” rate
Numerator Action- Decrease admit number by ignoring Jan admits
Denominator Action- Increase number of applications by counting incompletes and then remove hurdles like requiring essay</p>
<p>I guess the 4th rated LAC in the country needs to be careful that people might get the wrong impression about its selectivity, and the quality of applicants go down…</p>
<p>Arcadiot – some knowledge is a bit dangerous…especially when it is wrong. Jan admits? No such thing at Middlebury. Keep trying.</p>
<p>And…acceptance rates do not correlate with ranking in US News…have a look at Wellesley for the past decade. If anything, Middlebury has made changes in its reporting that should have cost it prestige points (rankings): for the past 3 years, it reports ALL SAT scores unlike at SAT optional schools, who report only those who select SATs to use for admission. Reported scores fell 60 or so points and Middlebury still moved from #11 to 8 to 5 to 4 in the rankings. All by statistical manipulation, I am sure (in your world).</p>
<p>NorthCountryCat
Well you do admit that Febs are excluded from Numerator in calculating acceptance rate.
Also, not sure how Wellesley alleged improper practices justify the means.</p>
<p>Just asking… why are you trying to find issue arcadiot? Middlebury stopped counting incomplete applications three years ago (for the last two years only counted completed applications). And yes, maybe it is a little easier to apply to middlebury without an additional essay and.or graded paper, but your beef with that is? And I don’t think Febs are excluded from acceptance rate since today’s article in the campus reported that there were 919 ED applications of which 327 were accepted (280 were fall admits and 47 in Feb ). So where do you get they don’t count Febs? The 7976 applications in total also are including those 919 ED applications, and one must remember that some ED students are deferred to regular decision.</p>
<p>But again… why such a whinefest Arcadiot? What’s your skin in this particular game?</p>
<p>It should also be made clear that while Midd had moved to 11 in USN&WR, it had spent plenty of time jumping around between 8 and 5 prior to that. USN&WR rankings show a lot of movement beyond the top three - regardless of what the schools themselves do.</p>
<p>U.S. – No other school has risen as much as Middlebury in the past 6 years (from 11 to tied for 4th) – not even close. Not that anyone cares about the USNews rankings, of course.</p>
<p>Arcadiot, therein lies the fault in your logic. When Midd was supposedly doing things that would improve their USN ranking (counting incomplete applications) their ranking dropped from top five to as low as 11th. Now, that they’ve stopped doing this, they’ve risen to number 4.</p>