Scott Seseske, from Providence College, writes a phenomenal blog, and has offered up some great insight about the application review process.
There’s really so much that goes into reading an application… and when you’re trying to read 25,000 — which we will be doing as a team this year — that’s a lot of time and energy. We’re looking at enrolling a class of 2,700 freshmen this year, the same size as Fall 2007. As a result, we know from previous years that we need to admit a little over 10,000 of those applicants. The question is, how do you get to that 10,000?
It’s not just as simple has slapping a green “ADMIT” stamp on the first 10,000 students that walk in the door. Are there specific programs that are looking to expand? Our School of Journalism and School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences are both having growth spurts right now, so we have to make sure we take extra care with those applicants. Are you applying into our music department? Then we might have to take your audition into account before making a decision (but please understand that we’re not a conservatory — we need you to still have a strong academic record too). Are your SAT scores a little low, but you’re graduating second in your class? Ultimately, we’re looking for reasons to admit students, but at the same time, we need to craft a class of students who will be successful within our system, not just open the doors.
That’s hard for people to understand sometimes; yes, we’re a public university, but we have a demanding academic environment, and because of that, there are a lot of people who want to take classes here. As a result, we need to be selective — you need to demonstrate academic success. That’s also why SUNY is such a large system with so many options. There really is a place for everyone in our system, and we wouldn’t be what we are without our diversity and strength of programs.