Pool of prospects expands

By Diane Ramirez     11/19/09 6:00pm

With the passing of the Nov. 1 deadline for early decision this year, it has become clear that the number of applicants is once again increasing. Although regular decision applications are not due until Jan. 2, 2010, Vice President for Enrollment Chris Muñoz estimated that applicant numbers will increase by 21 to 24 percent this year.

About 11,000 applications are expected, compared with 8,400 in 2006, 9,700 in 2007 and 10,818 in 2008.

Although numbers will not be fully accurate until the end of the 2009-10 admission calendar, Muñoz said the increase in applicant numbers is already clear. When just considering ED applications, numbers have already increased from 720 last year to 894 this year, an increase of about 26 percent.

---

---

Muñoz said Rice always plans to accept about 30 percent of the ED applicants and that the total goal for the class of 2014 is 930 students. Last year the plan for the class of 2013 was to have 850 students, but in the end that number was closer to 890.

Although that increase was larger than expected, the growth was acceptable as part of President David Leebron's Vision for the Second Century, Muñoz said. The V2C plans for a total undergraduate student body of around 3,900 students by the year 2012.

McMurtry College freshman Alejandro Rodela said more applicants and larger classes are good in terms of diversity, but he was cautious about possible side effects of such growth.

"But maybe increasing the number of students so quickly could potentially have consequences on other factors, like student-to-teacher ratio," Rodela said.

One of the important enrollment concerns Muñoz noted was the question of whether Rice could grow at this rate without affecting the quality of the students.

"Less academic preparation or less motivated students is not an acceptable trade-off for growth," he said.

---