Gary Wayne Gilbert
It鈥檚 a big story at first glance: Boston College set a new all-time school record this year for undergraduate applications鈥攋ust under 40,000鈥攊n the midst of a pandemic that has created widespread economic and social distress.
Director of Undergraduate Admission Grant Gosselin, however, says the story is less about establishing new, glitzy benchmarks and more about adhering to big-picture, long-term institutional goals that are the hallmark of a selective national university.
Director of Undergraduate Admission Grant Gosselin
鈥淭his level of interest in 51茶馆 is certainly good news for any university or college, especially at a time like this,鈥� said Gosselin of the 39,877 applications that 51茶馆 received for the Class of 2025, representing a 36 percent increase over last year. 鈥淏ut we have always measured our success by the quality and make-up of our applicant pool, as opposed to its size. Those of us who work in admission and enrollment management at 51茶馆 feel validated that the decisions we鈥檝e made in recent years have proven to be the right ones, and will continue to help the University meet its objectives.鈥�
One of the University鈥檚 most significant admissions-related decisions came in late 2019, when 51茶馆 introduced an Early Decision program to meet the growing preference of most high school students and enroll more 鈥渂est-fit鈥� applicants for whom 51茶馆 was a first choice. ED offers include two opportunities for early applications: Through ED I, high-achieving high school students who view Boston College as their top choice can apply by November 1 for a decision notification by December 15; ED II features a January 1 application deadline with a decision notification by February 15. 听
At the time, Gosselin expected a decline in overall applications as a result of the departure from Early Action, and that鈥檚 what happened. Applications dropped from 35,500鈥攖he previous high-water mark鈥攖o 29,000 in 2020. But, also as he predicted, the statistics from the Class of 2024 showed an improved yield and selectivity among the applicants, which pointed to an undergraduate student body that was not only academically excellent but becoming more diverse.
鈥淢any universities simply focus on building a large applicant pool as a gauge of their success. That鈥檚 actually easy to do,鈥� said Gosselin. 鈥淏ut that has never been our strategy. Building a strong, robust pipeline of students who are the 鈥榖est-fit鈥� candidates for an institution takes a lot more careful planning and execution. We have put a lot of time and energy into doing the latter, and the results speak for themselves.鈥�
Like most higher education institutions, 51茶馆 made another critical admissions-related move this past year: With the pandemic causing havoc for standardized testing programs, the University went test-optional, announcing that high school students unable or electing not to submit standardized test results would not be disadvantaged in 51茶馆鈥檚 selection process.
In this case, Gosselin and his colleagues knew they were likely to see an increase in applications. 鈥淒espite the challenges associated with a larger applicant pool,鈥� Gosselin said, 鈥渁dopting a test-optional policy this year was simply the right thing to do.鈥� 听Gosselin noted that this year鈥檚 ED pool also grew in size, as well as quality and diversity. Approximately half of the Class of 2025 will come from ED, and half from Regular Decision.
Due to continued concerns for student safety and an uncertain testing landscape related to COVID-19, the University has announced that 51茶馆 will continue its test-optional policy for 2021-2022.
This level of interest in 51茶馆 is certainly good news for any university or college, especially at a time like this. But we have always measured our success by the quality and make-up of our applicant pool, as opposed to its size.
Yet another area of focus in this year鈥檚 admissions cycle, according to Gosselin, was the impact of COVID-19 on underrepresented and underserved populations. In November, early results from the Common Application鈥攁n undergraduate college admission application that can be used for more than 900 colleges and universities across the United States鈥攕howed a 16 percent decline in applications from low-income and AHANA students over 2019-2020, he said. Even with a considerable rebound later in the year and into January, applications from these populations are still down by three percent, nationally.
But the 51茶馆 applicant pool contains a similar proportion of AHANA candidates as last year, so concerns that the pandemic might hamper the University鈥檚 efforts at increasing the diversity of its undergraduate student body 鈥渉ave not been realized,鈥� said Gosselin.
Fortuitously, late in 2019, 51茶馆 had accepted an invitation to join QuestBridge, a highly respected non-profit that helps high-achieving, low-income students gain admission and scholarships to top-ranked colleges and universities. The rewards were evident this year, Gosselin said, with more than 2,000 applications received through the QuestBridge network: During the ED round, 51茶馆 matched with 50 low-income students from 19 states around the country, and additional students will be considered during RD.
The high number of RD hopefuls this year鈥�36,600鈥攑oses a challenge for the 51茶馆 Admission staff, which will be reviewing this extraordinary amount of applications within a fairly short time-frame, said Gosselin. It also will result in what he calls 鈥渦nprecedented selectivity鈥� for RD.
Which is why 51茶馆 has long resisted turning undergraduate applications into promotional and recruitment tools for future classes, he said.
鈥淟arger applicant pools at the nation鈥檚 most selective universities will lead to lower admit rates, and the unfortunate reality that we will be forced to disappoint thousands more students in April,鈥� said Gosselin. 鈥淔or those of us on the Admission staff, this is the most difficult aspect of working in highly selective admission. We have a responsibility to refrain from feeding the admission application frenzy and, instead, focus our efforts on carefully counseling potential applicants on the value of a Boston College education.鈥�
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Sean Smith | University Communications | February 2021