Rejection rate highest ever
School admits better qualified students as apps continue to rise
Benjamin Pomerance
Issue date: 9/21/07 Section: News
Originally published: 9/20/07 at 6:37 PM EST
Last update: 9/20/07 at 9:30 PM EST
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Plattsburgh State President John Ettling couldn't help but smile when he heard the news.
PSUC accepted a record-setting low 49.4 percent of applicants for the incoming class of 2007. The numbers represent a more than 13 percent drop in acceptance in just two years.
Somehow, rejection never felt so good.
"The bottom line is that the numbers are good," Ettling said. "In fact, they're very good. This means that Plattsburgh State has reached a level where we can mold our entering class in the image we want. When we're admitting less than half of the people who apply here, it sends a message that an acceptance at Plattsburgh is not something to be taken lightly."
But the rejections have come as applications have continued to rise. The school received 9,139 applications for admission to the class - the third straight year that PSUC's admissions office saw an increase of more than 1,000 applicants.
Even lower than the general freshman rejection rate is that for true freshman applicants - meaning those who aren't transfers. Only 46.5 percent were accepted to the 980-student class, Director of Admissions Richard Higgins and Provost Robert Golden announced during a presentation this month.
Transfer students made up the rest of first-year pupils, with the college accepting 1,061 transfers from the 1,776 applications received.
Of the 3,936 students offered admission by PSUC, approximately 30 percent actually enrolled at the college, a rate slightly below PSUC's average enrollment yield.
Higgins said he believed this to be a result of PSUC's increased selectivity.
"If you accept higher-caliber students, they'll have more options of where they can go," Higgins explained. "Some of these students got into five, six, even seven very competitive schools. Some of them picked Plattsburgh, others chose to go elsewhere."
Two years ago, the college's vital signs were drastically different. Faced with a record-setting wave of 7,254 Cardinal hopefuls, the college admitted 62.8 percent of the applicants to the freshman class. Higgins believes the sudden campus population boom spurred many administrators to rethink the objectives of their admissions policy.
PSUC accepted a record-setting low 49.4 percent of applicants for the incoming class of 2007. The numbers represent a more than 13 percent drop in acceptance in just two years.
Somehow, rejection never felt so good.
"The bottom line is that the numbers are good," Ettling said. "In fact, they're very good. This means that Plattsburgh State has reached a level where we can mold our entering class in the image we want. When we're admitting less than half of the people who apply here, it sends a message that an acceptance at Plattsburgh is not something to be taken lightly."
But the rejections have come as applications have continued to rise. The school received 9,139 applications for admission to the class - the third straight year that PSUC's admissions office saw an increase of more than 1,000 applicants.
Even lower than the general freshman rejection rate is that for true freshman applicants - meaning those who aren't transfers. Only 46.5 percent were accepted to the 980-student class, Director of Admissions Richard Higgins and Provost Robert Golden announced during a presentation this month.
Transfer students made up the rest of first-year pupils, with the college accepting 1,061 transfers from the 1,776 applications received.
Of the 3,936 students offered admission by PSUC, approximately 30 percent actually enrolled at the college, a rate slightly below PSUC's average enrollment yield.
Higgins said he believed this to be a result of PSUC's increased selectivity.
"If you accept higher-caliber students, they'll have more options of where they can go," Higgins explained. "Some of these students got into five, six, even seven very competitive schools. Some of them picked Plattsburgh, others chose to go elsewhere."
Two years ago, the college's vital signs were drastically different. Faced with a record-setting wave of 7,254 Cardinal hopefuls, the college admitted 62.8 percent of the applicants to the freshman class. Higgins believes the sudden campus population boom spurred many administrators to rethink the objectives of their admissions policy.
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