BU becoming more selective as quality of applicants increases

By Eric McHenry

The competition for spots in BU's freshman class has never been keener.

Changes in the University's recruitment strategies, says Kelly Walter, director ad interim of admissions, have created an applicant pool that is both larger and better qualified than ever before. Additionally, her office is attempting to make this year's class of matriculating freshmen smaller than its recent predecessors.

"The past couple of years," Walter says, "our freshman classes have been in the 4,200 range. This year we've got a target number that's smaller by about 200, and that's certainly going to affect the number of students we can admit."

According to Walter, the University is seeing fewer initial inquiries from prospective applicants but more submitted applications. Last year, a record-breaking 28,092 students applied for undergraduate admission. This year's total broke that record by nearly 100. The increase in applicant volume, however, hasn't meant a dilution of quality. To the contrary, the average composite SAT score of this year's pool is 1230, a jump of 8 points. Walter attributes the improvement in applicant credentials both to the growing strength of the University's reputation and to more focused recruiting efforts. Greater selectivity in recruiting, she says, makes greater selectivity in admissions a necessity.

"Our recruitment efforts have definitely been more targeted," she says. "We're trying to identify those students who are the best matches with Boston University, primarily academically. We want students coming through the pipeline who are realistically qualified to attend the University."

Changes in the size and disposition of the applicant pool haven't meant any corresponding changes in its diversity, Walter says. All 50 states and 125 different countries are represented in this year's group. Students of color -- African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Native Hawaiians -- make up 27 percent of all applicants, which is typical.

One factor contributing to the preservation of that percentage, says Paul Greene, director of international admissions, is an increase in the number of Southeast Asian applicants. Two years ago, when markets in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia were foundering, the University experienced a decline in applications from the region.

"They have absolutely come back," says Greene. "This year we have an 11 percent increase in applications from Southeast Asia, and that represents the entire region."

This boost, he says, has helped offset a decrease in the number of applications from South and Latin America -- areas that have seen recent economic and political instability.

Walter adds that the 2000 applicant pool is 59 percent female, as it was in 1999. "That is a national trend," she says of the male-female disparity. "Last year, about 56 percent of those enrolling at colleges and universities nationwide were female. BU is obviously experiencing that national shift."

Two other broad-based trends are reflected in this year's applications, Walter says. The number of students who applied electronically doubled, to 14 percent, and the number who chose the early-decision option went up by 17 percent.

Even more striking, she says, are changes in the profile of that group of applicants. The average early-decision candidate this year had an SAT score of 1309, 36 points better than a year ago.

"I think that represents a very strong start for the class of 2004," Walter says. "I feel very confident that this will be the best class in the history of the University."