The St. Lawrence University class of 2023 has made history with the largest number of applicants. The Admissions Department hosted three admitted student open house events and expects to see the majority of commitments before May 1.
“The class of 2023 had the largest application pool in St. Lawrence history this year – 6,978,” according to Executive Director of Admissions, Jeremy Freeman. “We are coming off of two of our best enrollment years with the largest and third largest classes in St. Lawrence history.” However, admissions do not release the number of applicants who deposited until after May 1.
Despie this historic number, it’s too early to predict the overall class size. “We typically get over 70 percent of our deposits between now and the deposit deadline of May 1,” stated Freeman. Although, if the deposits do not come in, this could possibly cause St. Lawrence to not have enough students.
As aforementioned, the number of applicants differs yearly, also causing the enrollment size to vary. “There are significant changes in the population of high school students working their way through the system over the next seven years,” says Freeman. Admissions is currently working with the Communications Office to strengthen enrollment to combat this problem.
St. Lawrence is not the only college that has made history for the size of their class of 2023. Colgate University also had their largest application pool this year, right under 10,000 applicants. John Collins, Colgate’s Associate Vice President for Budget and Financial Aid, said the class of 2023 “would be our biggest class ever, we were slightly less than that last year around 9,500.” Even though applications continue to increase, “admissions works closely with residence life to make sure we have the capacity,” Collins stated.
Admissions staff works closely with the Residential Life Office to maintain a balance in the number of applicants with housing. At St. Lawrence, President Fox requested the number of students by consulting with Student Life and Residence Life. “Historically housing has always been tight at St. Lawrence, but we have always managed to make it work,” said Christopher Marquart, Assistant Dean of Student Life and Director of Residence Life and Housing.
Residential space is reserved with extra beds for certain situations. “One thing when it comes to housing is you don’t want to have just enough beds, you want to have just enough, plus a little extra,” explained Marquart. The quality of residential living can be a deciding factor for many applicants.
Potential students consider the residential halls during their visits. “The dorms are the most updated and cleanest I’ve seen,” said Hagen Morris, a senior in high school from New Hartford, N.Y. The dorms at St. Lawrence are better taken care of than at other schools. This is a deciding factor for students when thinking about the next four years of their lives.
Other students weigh their options before depositing because college is a big investment and a big commitment. Most students are afraid to say out loud where they are going to school because they do not want to make the wrong choice.
“I’m afraid to commit to making the decision because it’s such a big deal and it’s the biggest decision I’ve made so far in my life,” stated Alexa Smith, a track recruit from Niskayuna, N.Y.
Students and their families visited St. Lawrence to see if this is where they want to continue their academic career for the next four years. The upcoming class of 2023 is the biggest year of applicants who applied.
After the first two accepted students’ days, families seem very pleased with what they are seeing at St. Lawrence. Freeman has made some changes to the programming that families have responded positively to.
“We have had great interactions with families for our first two admitted student open house events,” said Freeman.