Updated 8/23/06
Adrian Set to Break Modern-Era Record in Admissions
The effort to raise enrollment is working better than expected Originally posted 6/30/06

It is true that raising enrollment was exactly what the people at Adrian College focused on doing this year. All the stops were out for creative and ambitious new ideas.

It’s just that no one expected it to work this well.

The most up-to-date reports strongly suggest that the incoming class this fall will be unparalleled in both size and caliber.

From early on in the enrollment cycle, the weekly reports from the admissions office gave college officials reason to be hopeful. Every week since then, the numbers have continued to stack up.

“We always trusted that the incredible momentum we’ve all been working to build here would help us meet our admission goals,” said Carolyn Quinlan, director of admissions. “What we didn’t expect was to exceed them by so much!”

The College set a goal to raise the size of the incoming class to 400 over four years, beginning by raising it by about 30 students to 300 this year. It appears the College will blow that first-year goal out of the water, with 401 deposits received to date.

As of the most recent official count (Aug. 18), applications are up by 68 percent from last year. Thirty-one percent more deposits have been received. And the number of admitted students has risen by 48 percent.

Students attend orientation earlier this month. The incoming class is the largest and of the highest-caliber of any class in recent history.

Adrian is also becoming increasingly more selective. One year ago, 80 percent of applicants were accepted. This year, that number is 70 percent, making Adrian 10 percent more selective.

The momentum at the small, residential college began when Dr. Jeffrey R. Docking became president last summer. He touched off a culture of new ideas that that has flourished since then. Changes include a series of campus improvements, including College-owned apartments, a renovated dining hall, a new multisport performance stadium, and an accessible Admissions House.

In addition, plans are in motion to improve academic programs in a variety of important and exciting new ways.
“This is a great time to be at Adrian,” Quinlan said. “We’re finding that prospective students can sense all the good things that are happening here, and they want to be a part of it,” Quinlan said.