<p>Stanford plans to slowly increase its undergraduate enrollment starting with the class of 2020 =D>...</p>
<p>Damn, Class of 2019. Just missed it.</p>
<p>Then again, it’s only going to grow by 100 next year, and the changes seem very gradual, so never mind ;)</p>
<p>Yup, an admissions officer told me they’re planning accept more undergrads in the future. </p>
I would be Class of '19, but still very happy for future applicants 
Great idea. Stanford has the space for more housing, especially as they move some of the admin support functions to Redwood City, and I think it’s a great thing to increase class size to the extent possible.
As the article notes, Yale is doing the same thing - I think it’s 200 more spots per class staring in the fall of 2017.
I think the admission rates for Stanford and a few others are getting so low that the schools have to start worrying about applicants losing interest . . . it’s great to be selective, but at 5%, some people the school would like to have won’t bother to apply.
Stanford also had exceptional students 20 years ago, but then the school was admitting 20% so it didn’t feel like you had to win the lottery to get in.
It’s also tough on alumni relations when a high percentage of qualified legacies don’t get in, as is the case today.
So I think increasing class size has some compelling benefits for Stanford as an institution, as well as for prospective future students.
I’m curious if anyone has been tracking this topic lately. The article referenced was a while age (and obviously President Hennessy is now on his way out) but at that time anyway the thought was to increase enrollment by about 100 per year starting this fall.
Interesting question. Here’s some info.
The oldest data I could find on the Common Data Set is for the class entering in the fall of 1998. 1,614 frosh entered (data as of 6/23/1998).
1998: 1,614
.
.
.
2012: 1,765 (Stanford screwed up by admitting too many)
2013: 1,677
2014: 1,678
2015: 1,720
2016: 1,730 (expected, goal)
Shaw said in a recent interview that the goal for the fall of 2016 is 1,730. The article is linked below.
Not sure what this shows. I guess a minor increase. There are some new dorms, so finally all undergraduates may live on campus for all 4 years. Not sure if this is formally guaranteed, but I think it effectively is. My understanding is that close to 100% of undergrads no live on campus. Palo Alto is too expensive. Oak Creek is no longer housing undergrads due to the new dorms. Good developments all the way around.
FWIW: I’m not sure where Hennessy was/is coming from on expanding the size of the undergraduate population. I think in general he wants things to be bigger. See the NYC proposed campus which the board had the wisdom to nix. As Shaw mentions, even with some extra students the admit rate will be very low.
Here’s the Shaw article:
Interesting data, and from that it doesn’t sound like there’s any substantial increase for this year anyway. Maybe it was a thought a couple of years back that has gone by the wayside.
From what I recall, the Stanford GSB didn’t increase the number of students in the MBA program substantially despite opening a new, much bigger set of buildings a few years back . . . to the extent what the professionals schools do has any relevance to what happens with the undergraduate program.
Last year their yield was higher than expected and they had to change around some dorms space and re-open the housing draw for students already at Stanford - so that 1720 was not their goal. It seems like they are intentionally adding about 50 spots this year. They accepted about 180 or so fewer students this year vs last year, so it looks like they are trying to make sure they control the numbers better this year (and if necessary will go to the waitlist if they need to)
Based on the admitted number of students this year, they have NOT increased the size. There was an expectation that it might happen because they had significantly increased the deferred group for the first time but ultimately the total admitted did not increase from last year to this year.
They’re building new dorms and switching housing around to redistribute freshmen across campus, but I’m not sure if this means that they expect to take more freshmen soon.
This is not new, but it’s an interesting article on one aspect of this topic. In recent years the balance has shifted more towards graduate students at Stanford in terms of numbers, as graduate student numbers have gone up and undergraduate numbers have been pretty stable - as of now about 43% undergrads compared to ~ 50% 30 years ago. Still more balanced than some schools, e.g. IIRC Harvard is about 30% undergrads.
https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=63084
What Hennessy doesn’t say is that one way to get back to 50/50 is to reduce the number of graduate students. 8-|
Yes good point, though not the one he wanted to make of course.
I doubt they’ll be cutting back on any of the cash cow type graduate programs (MBA, JD, master’s programs in engineering, etc.), unless demand drops off at some future point (as has happened at many law schools, though I don’t think that has affected Stanford caliber law schools, at least to this point) . . . STEM PhD programs that are heavily dependent on government funding could be another matter down the road, as is the case at any research university of course.
It actually didn’t hit me until I looked at the numbers that overall enrollment is 25-30% higher than it was 30 years ago . . . one factor I guess in those 70 new buildings during Hennessy’s term.