Lawrence Today magazine, Fall 2009
Admissions Report
Dear Lawrentians,
The rapidly changing financial environment made this an unusually challenging year for students to be making reasoned and reasonable choices in their college searches. It was similarly challenging for colleges as we attempted to anticipate the impact of the economic downturn on our yield. Assuming there would likely be a significant impact, we offered admission to 200 more students than we did a year ago. We have enrolled 352 freshmen and 34 transfer students this year, as well as welcoming a group of 14 students from Waseda University in Tokyo. As of this writing, we anticipate an opening fall enrollment of about 1,425 students, intentionally lower than last fall, when our residence halls were beyond capacity.
The freshmen hail from 35 states, so our student body will again have representatives from virtually all the states in the nation. Wisconsin is home to 31 percent of the freshman and 51 percent are women (which brings us into closer gender balance than last year’s class, which was 57 percent female). Our degree-seeking international students comprise about 7 percent of our entering class, with the largest representation (10 freshmen) coming from China. The academic profile of the class is very similar to last year with an average high school GPA of 3.63, average ACT of 28.7, and an average SAT of 1932. Perhaps the most exciting change in the profile of the freshman class is that it includes 15 percent domestic students-of color, which is an increase from last year’s 11 percent, and is the largest proportion of non-Caucasian students for which we have records. In this, our fourth year of “test-optional” admission, 26 percent of our enrolling students chose to have us not consider their test scores in admission, whereas half of the domestic students of color chose this option. This parallels the national trend at test optional colleges, most of which report increases in applications from, and the enrollment of, students-of-color. To learn more interesting information about the students who make up the Class of 2013 (in their own words) I invite you to visit the admissions blog (http://blogs.lawrence.edu/admissions/survey).
Rankings Mania
The annual publication of various rankings has just kicked off for the fall. For the eleventh year in a row, Lawrence was ranked in the top quarter of the U.S. News ranking of national liberal arts colleges (59th overall, and top in Wisconsin). It is unfortunate that in their assessment of the proportion of classes with “enrollments less than 20 students” they continue to disallow classes with enrollments of a single student (tutorials, independent study, honors projects, studio lessons, etc.), an area of exceptional strength for Lawrence, representing more than 60 percent of our classes. In a broader category, when asked which liberal arts colleges they think offer the best education to their students, high school guidance counselors ranked Lawrence 49th in the nation. In The Princeton Review’s annual publication “The Best 371 Colleges,” which is based on student surveys, Lawrence’s ratings increased in the categories of academics, financial aid, admissions, campus life and the green category, the latter a rating based on the schools’ environmental commitments. The book cites the student body as having a wide variety of interests producing “an intellectually stimulating — not academically cutthroat — environment” that fosters both academic and personal growth.
A newcomer to the ranking frenzy, Forbes.com, bases its assessment on externally collected data such as student evaluations on RateMyProfessor.com, Payscale.com, and “Who’s Who in America.” In this, its second annual report of “America’s Best Colleges,” it ranks 600 colleges, without regard to size, based on the quality of the education they provide, the experience of students, and their achievements after graduation. Lawrence jumped to 41st nationally, and was one of only two Wisconsin institutions to crack the top 100.
Alternative College Search Publications
Loren Pope, one of the long-time champions of rational college searches, passed away last fall at the age of 98. In addition to aligning strongly with his philosophy, Lawrence has been the beneficiary of much heightened visibility as one of the forty colleges profiled in his second book, “Colleges That Change Lives,” in which he argues that students at these colleges receive a better education than students at much higher profile colleges such as the Ivy League. This book has had such a large impact that the colleges featured in it have been doing consortial travel since 1998, and now attract standing-room-only crowds of parents and students at CTCL programs in 20-25 cities each year. Currently, about 10 percent of our applicants cite this book as one of the reasons they applied to Lawrence.
Next spring, Lawrence will be one of 82 colleges highlighted in a new book written by two independent counselors promoting the use of the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBPTI) in the college search process. An increasing number of families strive to look beyond name recognition and selectivity as primary determinants of collegiate quality, and this book may provide them with another optic on the college search process.
Steve Syverson
Vice President for Enrollment and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid
