It’s quite common to hear from colleges across the country that they received “a record number of applications this year.” Because it drives down their acceptance rates and makes schools seem more appealing, there are few things that colleges love more than an increase in applications. We usually take these kinds of statements with a grain of salt because we know to expect them, but in January, Colgate put out a statement that was truly astounding.
More than 17,000 students applied for admission for the class of 2025. The previous record was set for the class of 2023, when 9,951 students applied. And for the class of 2024, around 8,500 people applied. This is a lot of numbers so here’s the important takeaway: there was a 103% increase in applications over the previous year. Colgate also included this statement in their press release: “This record year also includes major growth in applications from students of color, students in the Southeast, and those hailing from countries outside of the United States. An early data review also points to an overall increase in the academic quality of applications compared to previous years.” This stands out because Colgate isn’t just applauding the quantity of their applications, they’re stating that the quality was also impressive.
So, what happened? Colgate has always been a good school. Colgate’s president has credited the massive influx of applications to their admissions staff raising awareness about opportunities on campus and the initiatives the school has put in place over the past few years.
Here’s a list of the initiatives:
Colgate said that they changed their process of seeking out prospective students. Per the Dean, “Admission has been strategically changing our operation for the past two years. This year is when all the stars came into alignment, and we’re seeing the benefit of it. It was all about managing our prospective student base and building on the number and quality of interactions. This year, we absolutely saw that that paid off.” When the pandemic hit in March 2020, Colgate swiftly transitioned to online recruiting. The school hosted 120 virtual seminars on topics including food on campus, financial aid, and how to survive winter in New York. This is huge because high school students had a very hard time figuring out where to apply, and learning about day-to-day life is the hardest aspect to research. Additionally, Colgate hosted 1,000 virtual events to meet prospective students. We have thoughts on this! Last year, we saw a lot of colleges slowly transition to virtual tours, and we worked with clients who were struggling to learn about schools in the absence of tours. While it’s doubtful that these online sessions would solely account for a 103% increase, prospective students were certainly grateful for Colgate’s online presence during the pandemic.
Colgate’s test-optional policy. Spoiler alert: more people apply when test scores are not required.
Colgate’s No-Loan Initiative, which eliminates federal loans for all current and incoming students with a family income up to $125,000. College is insanely expensive, so this makes perfect sense.
It’ll be interesting to see how many people apply to Colgate next year. If you’re thinking about applying, we recommend that you put together an application plan early. As in right now. Do well in school, stay engaged with your extracurricular activities, and start doing research early. The competition just got a lot steeper, so it’s best to start preparing now.
Contact us here if you need help putting a plan in place.