Brown gets record 30,000 applications for Class of 2014

http://www.pbn.com/detail/47193.html

PROVIDENCE – Brown University has been flooded with a record 30,000 applications for the 1,500 spots in its next undergraduate class – a 20 percent jump over last year’s already higher number, according to school officials.
Dean of Admission James S. Miller cited the university’s positive reviews in the media and on social-networking Web sites for this year’s rise in applications, which follows a 20 percent increase in 2008-09. He also said the recent growth in academic programs and President Ruth J. Simmons’ strong reputation played a part.
“The news from Brown has been good,” Miller said in a university news story.
Brown expects to admit just under 1,500 students for the Class of 2014, Miller told The Brown Daily Herald last month.
The school received 2,850 early applications by the Nov. 1 deadline, up 21 percent from the 2,343 the school received in 2008. They learned of the school’s decision on Dec. 14. Miller expects around 30 percent of the 1,500 class members to be early applicants.
Last month, Miller told The New York Times he was mystified by the continued growth in binding early-decision applications despite the recession. “I wish I knew the answer why,” he said. “The university president asked me, and I told her I just don’t know.”
With the Jan. 1 application deadline past, university officials have opened a satellite facility in Brown’s Alumnae Hall and hired 80 temporary workers – most of them students – to process the massive amount of paperwork, the university said. About 20 admission officers are expected to review applications before accepted students are notified by April 1.
Brown will be moving to totally electronic applications next year, eliminating the need for temporary workers or a satellite processing facility, Miller told the university news service.
The university has seen a rise in the number of application since it switched to a “need-blind application” a few years ago, in which the financial needs of applicants no longer play a part in deciding whether they get admitted.
When Brown and other area schools experienced a jump in applications two years ago, Miller told Providence Business News he partly attributed the growth to the “baby boomlet” – a large number of high school seniors nationwide that was supposed to peak last year.