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Freshman applications break 12,000, set all-time high |
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Thursday, 22 February 2007 |
by SARA HAYNES
Intern News Reporter
Appalachian State University received its 12,000th freshman application Feb. 15.
The previous record for applications was set last year, when the university received over 11,000 applications.
 Active Image | Alisha Park | The Appalachian
This year the Admissions Office in the John E. Thomas Building received a record of over 12,000 applications from prospective students. All the applications are filed and reviewed by Director of Admissions, Paul Hiatt and his staff.
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“Last year at this time, we had received somewhere around 10,700 applications,” Director of Admissions Paul N. Hiatt said.
As of Monday, the Office of Admissions had received 12,157 applications.
Increases of this kind, however, are not foreign to Appalachian. The
Admissions Office consistently receives a significantly larger number
of applications every year than the year before.
In recent years, with applications online, it has been easy and convenient for students to apply.
Hiatt said around 95 percent of students apply online.
This increase in quantity does not come without an increase in quality.
“This is the largest, most diverse and most academically competitive group of applicants we’ve had,” Hiatt said.
While many believe that the surge of interest in Appalachian is due to
back-to-back football championships, Hiatt thinks that is only a
portion of the equation.
“[The championships] have accentuated the other good points of this university,” Hiatt said.
Andrew G. McKenna, an Asheville High School senior, agreed.
“I applied because I like the mountains … [and] I want to go to a
relatively large college in Western North Carolina. Plus, it’s a good
price for a good education,” McKenna said.
Appalachian ranked as No. 31 in the nation this year on Kiplinger’s
Personal Finance list of Best Values for Higher Education for in-state
students.
The only North Carolina schools ranking higher were University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.
UNC-Chapel Hill was No. 1 and N.C. State was No. 12.
In 2001, Appalachian was one of Time Magazine’s Colleges of the Year.
Appalachian is also eighth in the nation for number of students traveling abroad.
Appalachian is 32nd in the nation in respect to the number of master’s graduates who go on to receive doctorates.
With two national championships spotlighting the university, more and
more prospective students are discovering positive reviews from those
sources.
“The increase in the number of applications is due to good work over a
long period of time. Football just brought focus to the university in a
way other areas haven’t,” Hiatt said.
He went on to say the immediacy of the championships was more public than Appalachian’s long-standing good reputation.
No matter how many applications they receive, the admissions office plans to admit 2,725 students for next year.
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