Author: Emily Shugerman
The admissions office recently finalized decisions for the incoming first-year class of 2013-14. Although the admissions office has yet to process its accepted student data, this year’s acceptance rate is expected to be 42 percent, up three percent from last year, according to Vice President for Admission and Financial Aid Vince Cuseo. Decisions were mailed on March 21.
Occidental received 6,080 applicants this year, down 0.5 percent from last year’s 6,134 applicants. Cuseo attributes this in part to the smaller number of students that applied through the college’s Early Decision (ED) program, leaving more spots available for regular decision applicants. The decrease reflects a reduction in the number of ED applicants at liberal arts schools nationwide, according to Dean of Admissions Sally Richmond.
“While one year is never a trend … the reasons here are likely the same as elsewhere, including a family’s inability to compare financial aid packages when applying ED and the increased prevalence of early action deadlines at larger institutions,” Richmond said. Natural fluctuations from year to year and factors such as changes in marketing strategies also affect regular decision numbers, according to Richmond.
“The biggest thing for Oxy [this year] was the new webpage… Fundamentally that was the number one marketing change that’s occurred with this applicant pool and we see that reflected in some of the commentary in students applications,” Richmond said.
Richmond also noted influential forces beyond the school’s control, including the actions of peer institutions and the financial health of state economies and individual families. It also does not hurt to have a former student in the White House.
“Another immeasurable factor is having the current and now re-elected president be an alumnus,” Richmond said. The visibility of such a figure has garnered a lot of free publicity to the school, both domestically and internationally.
There were substantially more foreign applicants this year, according to Richmond. The increase could potentially be attributed to several campus-wide initiatives designed to increase the college’s presence worldwide, particularly in Asia and Mexico, requiring multiple trips abroad from various administrators and faculty members. There was also an increase this year in applicants expressing interest in practical majors such as economics or engineering, according to Cuseo.
Diplomacy and World Affairs major and Admissions Communications Intern Nina Greenebaum (sophomore) noticed the high level of enthusiasm from prospective students.
“I get emails all the time from students saying that Oxy is their first choice and asking what they need to do to get in,” Greenebaum said.
A certain sense of reciprocity exists between prospective students and the admissions officers, according to Greenebaum; applicants show a high level of interest in the school while officers demonstrate personal knowledge of many of the student applicants.
“I can ask the officers to retrieve so-and-so’s file, and they will know who I’m talking about,” Greenebaum said.
The admissions office develops this expertise through a nine-week process of narrowing down applicants. Readers begin reviewing applications immediately following each deadline – Nov. 15 for Early Decision I, Jan. 2nd for Early Decision II, and Jan. 10 for Regular Decision. Multiple readers and a committee review each application before making a final decision at the end of the process.
Admitted students have until May 1 to accept or decline a place in the class of 2017.
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