Admissions Challenges Continue
Posted on Oct. 20, 1991From the University Report (published by the GAA 1970-94)
Newly arrived Director of Undergraduate Admissions Jim Walters just may have the toughest job on campus. Each year thousands of high school seniors anxiously await word on the fate of their applications to attend Carolina. Many of these are the sons and daughters of alumni. Unfortunately, not all of those who are qualified to attend can be admitted. As I travel North Carolina and across the country and visit with alumni, the most frequently asked questions regard admissions.
As the tables of admissions statistics show (see page 6), the quality of the entering freshman undergraduate class continues to be outstanding. Increasingly, I remind alumni who were admitted, like I was, in the 1960s that we should consider ourselves fortunate that we attended then because, in all probability, by today’s standards we might not be admitted. And therein lies the challenge.
Many alumni parents whose youngsters are applying today are confident that their own youngsters arc much brighter, have worked harder, and have better credentials for Chapel Hill than did they. However throughout the 1960s and up to the early 1970s, the size of the freshman class increased each year. But the size of the freshman class has remained relatively stable for nearly 20 years. This year’s freshman class was reduced by 100 spaces over that of 1990. In addition, as these tables show, the number of youngsters applying to the University remains very strong.
Your Alumni Association’s Board of Directors has spent many hours discussing admissions with the Admissions Office, the Chancellor and the Trustees. Solutions are neither simple nor immediate. Therefore, we are doing all that we can to enhance the chances for admission of the sons and daughters of our alumni who intend to apply to Carolina. Obviously, the best students stand the best chances, and the best students are those who were good students in junior high school as well as in high school.
Sadly, too often parents instill in their youngsters an expectation that unless they are able to attend their alma mater — Carolina — they have somehow failed or disappointed their parents. The truth is that there are many, many fine schools, and the most important thing is not that a youngster attend a particular school but that he or she continues his or her education. Parents can help by encouraging their youngsters to take college preparatory courses and to fully explore their leadership talents through extracurricular activities.
During the past year, the Admissions Office, with support from the General Alumni Association, has continued the effort to reach out to students across North Carolina as well as selected areas out of state. A newsletter is now sent to high school counselors. Selected science and math students were invited to campus with their teachers.
This year’s class is outstanding. There are 107 student body presidents, 70 senior class presidents, 225 editors of school newspapers or yearbooks, and 120 national merit semi-finalists in this class of 3150 students.
Perhaps the most encouraging fact is that, despite the financial difficulty the University has faced in recent years, in each of the last two years, roughly 95 percent of the freshmen have returned for their sophomore year. Gone are the days of the often-repeated phrase during orientation, “Look to your left, look to your right; one of you will not be here next semester.” This speaks well both of the preparation and motivation of the students who come as well as the commitment of the University’s faculty, counselors and staff to see that they enjoy a positive educational experience.
I hope that our readers, whether they are parents of currently enrolled students or have students who intend to apply, will take the time to understand fully the complexities associated with admissions at Carolina. Please write for our Alumni Admissions Handbook which is readily available to members of the Association at no cost. Call us if we can assist you or if you have any difficulty in dealing directly with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Yes, Jim Walters has a tough job. It is an important one. After all, we are not only recruiting students, we are also recruiting future Carolina alumni.
Yours at Carolina,
Douglas S. Dibbert ’70
