Prospective freshmen from 25 states as well as Quebec came to campus last Saturday for the Accepted Student Celebration and Transfer Open House event. While the Office of Admissions reported that about 1,875 people were registered for the event, around 600 of which were prospective students, the crowd in the Armory was smaller than it was last year.
One reason for this is that while more students applied for admission this year than last, fewer were accepted. According to the numbers provided by Dean of Enrollment Management Teresa Duffy, the acceptance rate for the Class of 2008 was around 73 percent as compared to approximately 80 percent for the current freshmen class. Last year, RPI accepted 4,216 students out of 5,252 applications. This year, however, only 3,938 students out of 5,396 were accepted.
Additionally, 263 students were put on an Admissions waitlist. This is the first time during Duffy’s tenure, which began in 1994, that RPI has waitlisted students who applied for admission.
Last year, RPI accepted many more students than in previous years becuase they wanted an incoming class of 1,200 as opposed to the 1,125 target size used in 2001 and 2002. The Class of 2007, however, ended up much larger than expected at 1,341 students.
According to Duffy, the reason for the decrease in acceptance is that, “We want a smaller [incoming] class.” She said that 96.5 percent of the 1,341 member Class of 2007 returned for the spring 2004 semester. Duffy also said that the fact that more high school students are applying shows that, “We have become a destination of choice for many students.”
The Accepted Students Celebration began with welcome addresses from Dean Duffy, President Shirley Ann Jackson, and Class of 2007 President Hannah Kim. Jackson talked about some of the things alumni have done and Kim discussed some of her freshman experiences.
This year, for the first time, the accepted students were each given a camera, pennant, and plastic picture holder. Duffy explained that the camera would be involved in two contests. First, all who were able to get a picture of Alby would receive a prize from admissions. The other contest involved creatively using the given pennant in a picture. The Class of 2008 will select a winner from the finalists picked by admissions and FYE and the winner will receive an MP3 player.
Duffy also spent time giving the prospective freshmen a snapshot of their peers. While this included facts such as the average SAT score is 1359, 71 percent are in the top 10 percent of their class, and that the class is composed of members from 36 countries; it also included a few individual stories such as the fact that one student in the accepted class already holds two patents.
Before the prospective students split for academic sessions with their respective schools, a video was shown highlighting some of the RPI experience. The rest of the day included panels, information sessions, tours, an activity fair, and other activities.
Ken Johnson, a prospective freshman from New Paltz, New York said, “I really liked the camera idea,” and pointed out that it distracts people from being nervous while visiting a new place. He said he is probably going to come here and dual major in Computer Science and EMAC.
Amanda Zangari, from Lincoln, Rhode Island, said that her favorite part of the day was the program that focused on a student’s first year at RPI. Prospective student David Mellon, from Sea Bright, New Jersey, who plans on majoring in Chemical Engineering, said he was most likely coming here and that he “liked the school overall.”
Kate Lawrence attended the Transfer Student Open House that ran concurrent with the Accepted Student Celebration. She will be transferring from Adirondack Community College next fall into the School of Architecture and described the day as “pretty good.”
Dean Duffy said that the main goal of the Accepted Student Celebration is to “show the students how much we want them. This is an incredibly engaging place where the faculty and their students are committed to the learning experience.”
Many current students were also involved in the day. Office of Admissions Student Ambassador Lindsay Zefting ’06, said, “Most of the students here are considering RPI highly.”
Junior Will Wilson, said that the prospective freshmen seemed “very friendly [and] really interested.”
Jordan Goff, a dual major in computer and systems engineering and computer science and member of the Class of 2007 Council, said, “I’ve talked to a lot of people who really enjoyed it … People seem to be having fun.”
