UR Admissions

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Richmond
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<p>UR Admissions:</p>

<p>Sincere thanks to you for your positive input to this site and readiness to answer questions posed to you. </p>

<p>A couple more quick questions to you or “Spider Admission”:</p>

<li><p>What was the total number (or estimate) of applications for this Class of 2012? How does that number compare to the Class of 2011?</p></li>
<li><p>What was the acceptance rate (or your estimate) for this Class of 2012? What was the acceptance rate for the Class of 2011?</p></li>
<li><p>Do you feel that there was any shift this year in “cross- over” schools from those the UR applicants have traditionally also applied to?</p></li>
<li><p>How do the stats for this Class of 2012 compare to recent UR Class of 2011, 2010?</p></li>
<li><p>In a prior post you indicated that you had been at UR for a number of years. How does the Class of 2012 compare to the UR Classes of say 10 or 15 years ago?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks again and congrats on what appeared to be a very successful application period for the URichmond. I am sure that you are glad it has ended until the admissions cycle starts over again.</p>

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<p>Not who you requested, but for the sake of promptness, I can answer a couple.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>As of late Feb. there were 7,929 applicants. (<a href="http://oncampus.richmond.edu/news/richmondnow/2008/03/applications.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://oncampus.richmond.edu/news/richmondnow/2008/03/applications.html&lt;/a&gt;) Last year, UR received 6,611. Total increase of 1,318 or a 20% increase over last year. </p></li>
<li><p>Assuming a target class of 750 (although it may be smaller this year due to the large class last year) and using last year's yield of 31%, a 31% acceptance rate of students would put the class at 762. If the desired class was smaller, or admissions anticipated a higher yield this year, this number could creep lower.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>4 & 5. In 1998, UR's middle SAT was 1200-1330. (<a href="http://oir.richmond.edu/Factbook2005/Admissions2005.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://oir.richmond.edu/Factbook2005/Admissions2005.pdf&lt;/a&gt;) The most recent class, the class of 2011 was 1220-1350 (<a href="http://oir.richmond.edu/Profile07.pdf)%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://oir.richmond.edu/Profile07.pdf)&lt;/a>. Interesting to note that the current junior class (class of 2009) ranged from 1240-1390. This shows the effect of the quality of students entering actually decreased (significantly in my opinion) after the $10,000+ tuition hike a few years back. The decline test scores may also have been one of the prime reasons UR dropped in the LAC rankings you're concerned about.</p>

<p>It's also interesting to note that in '05-'06, the latest numbers I have seen, UR has 27 National Merit Scholars, up from 11 in 1999. That's more than Bucknell, Wake Forest, and Davidson...COMBINED.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
It's also interesting to note that in '05-'06, the latest numbers I have seen, UR has 27 National Merit Scholars, up from 11 in 1999. That's more than Bucknell, Wake Forest, and Davidson...COMBINED.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>this is simply incorrect. </p>

<p>1) richmond enrolled nine national merit scholars in 2006, seven of them institutionally sponsored. davidson enrolled eight, only three of them institutionally sponsored; bucknell enrolled 12, 11 of them institutionally sponsored; and wake forest enrolled 12, only four of them institutionally sponsered.</p>

<p>2) institutional sponsorship can have a big impact on the number of national merit scholars a school reports. bucknell and richmond, like many schools, offer small scholarships to any national merit finalist who lists the school as his first choice. in contrast, wake forest only offers four such scholarships, davidson three. since it is relatively difficult to earn a non-institutional national merit scholarship, bucknell and richmond boast inflated numbers relative to wake forest and davidson. </p>

<p>note: some of those receiving institutional scholarships may have won non-institutional scholarships had they not gotten them from their schools. so you cant just look at non-institutional scholarship totals, either.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nationalmerit.org/06_annual_report.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nationalmerit.org/06_annual_report.pdf&lt;/a> (i just realized there is a 2007 report available. the data are similar.)</p>

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<p>Hi Otis--</p>

<p>I think I read in a post somewhere that you are coming to Richmond. Am I right? If yes, YEAH! The faculty will love you with your ability to come up with so many questions! </p>

<p>I wrote a reply to this message last night as I was getting ready to leave for the night and then hit the wrong button and deleted it. Man, I was frustrated. So here I go again. </p>

<p>The total apps have crept up to just under 8000 applications and Spiders05 gave you the comparison number for last year. We're looking for about 760 first year students and the truth is that I don't know what the total accept rate will be. Calculating that involves combining the figures from 2 rounds of ED and may also involve any one we take off the WL, so we won't know a final figure for a while, but it will be a record low for us (unless there is gigantic WL activity and it's too soon to know what will happen there). </p>

<p>The way we learn about cross-application patterns is from the data we get back from students who decline the offers of admission. I think we've gotten one of those so far. Therefore we'll compile that in the summer sometime. </p>

<p>Stats too are compiled in the summer. We report the stats of our ENROLLED class, not our ACCEPTED class so the answer again is we won't know for a while about this. </p>

<p>Yes, I'm a dinosaur. This class is certainly shaping up to be outstanding. I would say there is no (statistical) comparison between the classes that would have entered 10-15 years ago and today. But other than stats, I still think students who are attracted to Richmond share many similar qualities with generations that went before. Today's students are just much more likely to have taken calculus in high school, and foreign language into the 4th or 5th year then they were back in "the day". Yesterday and today, UR students tend to be attracted here if they are active learners, don't want to blend into a crowded academic setting, expect to have an engaging and highly personal experience and want to be involved outside the classroom. Seeing the qualifications of students change so dramatically is kind of hard for us to be honest. We've just sent WL letters to a whole lot of wonderful students that we'd have been delighted to admit a handful of years ago, and that is hard for us. We know how students feel when they get WL'd (most of us were at one time in our lives and it stunk). So to any WL'd student out there reading this, I know it feels awful, but please know that you weren't coldly dismissed. We really struggled with every decision we made. There were many more qualified students in the pool than there was space to accommodate. </p>

<p>As for the National Merit debate, as you've probably heard me say before, I'm not a numbers person, so I'm not going to get into it from that angle. But Richmond's National Merit #'s dropped dramatically when we created the Richmond Scholars program and stopped offering automatic half tuition to any NM student who identified as a their first choice school. We bundled the cash that we were spending on NM's into the bigger program and now encourage NM's to apply for Richmond Scholars. It was a faculty decision to go this route and you should understand that admissions just executes the plan, we don't always think it is the perfect plan. </p>

<p>Yes, we're glad to be out from under all the folders and ready to start meeting admitted students face to face! There is a lot of satisfaction in working with students in this stage. But we also work with a lot of disappointed people who are good students (and their parents) and who are very angry or sad or both, so that is more challenging. Many people think the world is going to end if they don't go to a particular college but facts support that this attitude is just not true. Success comes to those who can make the most of any situation, so the college selection process can really make people learn this the hard way. </p>

<p>We're already pretty deep into working with the next two classes that will enroll. At any given time on the calendar, most admission offices are working on the next three classes at the same time. It's challenging work, and usually its a lot of fun! </p>

<p>It is GORGEOUS in Richmond today. Sunny and about 70 degrees--spring is popping out all over. Come see us sometime!</p>

<p>UR Admissions</p>

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<p>UR Admissions, your thoughtful post is a help to my terribly disappointed s who received his WL letter today. Thank you for taking the time to give us a better picture of what goes on in this complicated process. BTW, my s plans to hold out hope for UR, (against all odds), since it has been his "first-place" school for years. He would enroll in a heartbeat if he got off the WL!<br>
Many congratulations to all of you who were admitted!!</p>

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<p>Eric, if you look at the second link I provided at the chart on page 5, you'll see the number comparing the schools over time. (<a href="http://oir.richmond.edu/Factbook2005/Admissions2005.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://oir.richmond.edu/Factbook2005/Admissions2005.pdf&lt;/a&gt;) According to this source, UR does in fact have more NMS students enrolled than Davidson, Bucknell and Wake.</p>

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<p>Its not a question but a suggestion that UR should have a Why UR? question for their application supplement next year so that students who <em>really</em> want to attend UR are given the opportunity to do so. :)</p>

<p>-Ajay</p>

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<p>Heididoe--</p>

<p>Thanks for your nice message. I'm glad the post helped you and your son feel a little better. Being WL'd really is a reflection of the applicant pool more than on any particular weakness of a particular candidate. But in any case, it hurts. It will be hard for us to know whether or not we'll have an opportunity to admit some students from the WL until it is May 1, when those who've been offered admission in the first batch are expected (required) to respond to those offers. If the class is not full by then, we'll be happy to start considering students from the WL who've notified us that they will remain interested. I'll keep my fingers crossed that we'll get to your son (and to many others out there who are reading this). This is a rough month in most households, even when they got lots of offers, it is always harder to choose then people anticipate. Hang in there!</p>

<p>UR Admissions</p>

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<p>The University of Richmond does not take interest into consideration when evaluating applications for admission. Many schools have decided to use demonstrated interest as a factor when making their admission offers. We feel this puts undue stress on students and creates even more frenzy during the application and college selection process. </p>

<p>Additionally, we have a very diverse pool of students, some of which are unable to visit campus due to financial constraints or that of distance. How would we look at the difference between a campus visit verses an online request for information? We feel that all students should get a fair chance regardless of how savvy they are about the admission process.</p>

<p>Spider Admission</p>