Demographic shifts expected to reduce number of applicants
Kat Zhao
Issue date: 3/26/08 Section: News
The number of high school graduates is projected to decline in most parts of the nation within the next year, according to a research to be released later this month by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.
The number of high school graduates has been growing steadily for the past 15 years and will see a climax at 2.9 million in 2008-2009. A drop is expected to follow and continue until the year 2015.
Although the decline will be relatively mild, it may still have a hand in decreasing the selectivity of most colleges and universities, say education analysts.
The more significant change to the graduating high school population, however, will likely be in the form of sharp demographic shifts, also predicted by the commission's report.
A recent article from the Washington Post reported a projected decrease of at least 10 percent in white students and a similarly significant increase in the percentage of minority students, particularly Hispanics and Asian-Americans.
According to Washington University Director of Admissions Nanette Tarbouni, the University is aware of these expected changes to the high school graduating population but remains uncertain of what the effect will be on undergraduate admissions.
"We do know that the demographics will shift some as we move to the middle of this decade," wrote Tarbouni in an e-mail to Student Life. "I think it's hard to tell what all this means, but I think we can all be confident that Washington University will continue to seek and enroll talented students within the range of our typical freshman class size."
Meanwhile, many other colleges and universities, with these population shifts in mind, have begun preparing for what they recognize as a transformation of both their applicant pools and undergraduate demographics.
Many schools have chosen to reorganize their recruiting tactics, sending more recruiting officers to regions where their schools are less known. So far, some prestigious public and private institutions have increased their efforts to recruit more underrepresented Hispanic and low-income students.
The number of high school graduates has been growing steadily for the past 15 years and will see a climax at 2.9 million in 2008-2009. A drop is expected to follow and continue until the year 2015.
Although the decline will be relatively mild, it may still have a hand in decreasing the selectivity of most colleges and universities, say education analysts.
The more significant change to the graduating high school population, however, will likely be in the form of sharp demographic shifts, also predicted by the commission's report.
A recent article from the Washington Post reported a projected decrease of at least 10 percent in white students and a similarly significant increase in the percentage of minority students, particularly Hispanics and Asian-Americans.
According to Washington University Director of Admissions Nanette Tarbouni, the University is aware of these expected changes to the high school graduating population but remains uncertain of what the effect will be on undergraduate admissions.
"We do know that the demographics will shift some as we move to the middle of this decade," wrote Tarbouni in an e-mail to Student Life. "I think it's hard to tell what all this means, but I think we can all be confident that Washington University will continue to seek and enroll talented students within the range of our typical freshman class size."
Meanwhile, many other colleges and universities, with these population shifts in mind, have begun preparing for what they recognize as a transformation of both their applicant pools and undergraduate demographics.
Many schools have chosen to reorganize their recruiting tactics, sending more recruiting officers to regions where their schools are less known. So far, some prestigious public and private institutions have increased their efforts to recruit more underrepresented Hispanic and low-income students.
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