What happens if more students enroll at a college than there are spots for?

<p>Just curious, what would a college do if more students accepted their admission than there was room for? For example, at a certain college, if 25,000 students applied, 6,000 were admitted for a freshman class of 3,000 students, but 5,000 decided to enroll... what would the college do with the extra 2,000? Has this situation happened before, and if so, what was done about it?</p>

<p>It happens all the time though the numbers are not as high as yours. Three people get to share a room or they make lounges into sleeping rooms. Last year, a small college up the road a ways had to rent hotel rooms for students. It isn’t always a good thing.</p>

<p>Boston University owns rooms at The Hilton (or Hyatt, I can’t remember). They give freshman students the option of living there for the first semester. They “repay” them by giving them first choices for rooming next year and the years to come.</p>

<p>Haha, I have always wondered about this too.</p>

<p>Schools are disappointed when their yields are unexpectedly low, but the get dowright panicked when their yields are unexpectedly high. Renting hotel rooms has been mentioned. They also often just cram the extra students in. Single rooms are turned into doubles and doubles into triples. It’s an expensive headache for the school and uncomfotable for the affected kids.</p>

<p>A “trouble” = a double converted into a triple</p>

<p>

i’d love to do that.</p>

<p>^ Same! Staying in a hotel sounds awesome…</p>

<p>Last year Richmond targeted an incoming class of about 805; they got 925. That’s about 15% larger than expected.</p>

<p>1) The first consequence of oversubscription is no one gets in from the waitlist. Fewer transfers may be accepted as well.</p>

<p>2) Housing crunch. It may actually be worse the second semester if a lot of students use the fall term for a semester abroad.</p>

<p>3) Crowded classes and/or not being able to get in to certain classes. This can continue for a few semesters as the lump of students goes through the system.</p>

<p>4) A smaller class may be admitted the following year to get the numbers under control and/or to avoid overenrollment once again.</p>

<p>yeah i stayed in a hotel my freshman year it was great and the beds are comfortable compared to the dorm beds plus the maids come in and clean the rooms. I felt so spoiled. :)</p>

<p>It does happen. But colleges are also very clever about how they manage “the system”. Most get it very close.</p>

<p>I think northwestern got slight overenrollment last year, or the year before.</p>

<p>USC also owns dorms, they have some floors (i think) of a Radisson right outside of campus.</p>

<p>Interesting to know</p>

<p>You are exactly correct in that it did happen with Univ Of Richmonds class last year so unfortunately, the acceptance rate was at least 200 less students this year…They had higher apps numbers this year and due to last years enrollment, less were offered acceptance this year.</p>

<p>It SOUNDS awesome, but in reality it’s not. It’s across the Charles River, so you have to take a shuttle to and from school, and from what I’ve heard from students, the shuttle screws people over, A LOT. Also, it’s quiet hours all the time. You lose the freshman year social experience that the students get in Warren and other dorms. If you have no desire to have a social life entering your sophomore year, go right ahead and stay at the hotel.</p>

<p>It does happen all the time but the numbers are generally not very high. Caltech last year had 254 students against a target of 220-230. They had some sophomores stay in off campus housing owned by the school. Schools are generally conservative, they would rather have a few less than a few more as they can then choose from the wait list to complete their list. Through the use of statistical models, they usually are pretty close.</p>

<p>^ Colleges use statistical models?</p>

<p>Of course. What else would they do, just guess at how many of the people they accept will attend?</p>

<p>True. But statistical modeling based on history is predicting the future based on looking in the rear view mirror. Better than doing nothing but far from reliable.</p>

<p>

Probably true, but you do realize that’s exactly what econometrics does? Or for that matter any form of analysis based on regression models?</p>