An Admissions Exchange from 60 Years Ago

Posted on March 15, 2006

Alumni visiting the George Watts Hill Alumni Center seldom investigate the extensive records of the nearly 300,000 former students who have attended Carolina. Within the 50,000 files the GAA maintains on deceased alumni can be found fascinating materials. The following is an
exchange of letters from 60 years ago between Ralph M. Maultsby ’27 of Greensville, S.C., and then-Alumni
Secretary J. Maryon “Spike” Saunders ’25:

Dear Spike:

You will probably recall Cubby Alexander ’23, who is a member of the Class if 1923 and an SAE, and is now manager if the Ottaray Hotel. His daughter, Judy Alexander, is a student at Hollins College. She is anxious to enter Carolina next fall, but all applications have been returned with unfavorable reports.

Judy has made the Dean’s list at Hollins, which requires at least a B+ average, and certainly above the average scholastically. If you know of anyone who has a room available, I could think if no people that would be more appreciative than the Alexanders. … I know from reports in the newspapers that the situation at Chapel Hill is critical, but if you can help out in this particular instance, both Cubby and I would appreciate it more than words can tell. Otherwise, his daughter may have to go to Duke, which would be most unfortunate for all concerned. …

Here’s Spike’s follow-up letter:

My dear Cubby:

The other day when Ralph Maultsby called me on the telephone, I told him something of the situation here with regard to problems of admissions. On Monday of this week the Trustees established priorities which favor admission of students somewhat in this order: returning former students from military service; servicemen from North Carolina; returning former students; students who are residents of North Carolina coming to college for the first time. The priority line thus places out-of-state students pretty far down the line and means that application for admission is being
discouraged by students living outside of the state, even though they have fine North Carolina connections.

There is a University regulation that undergraduate girls must live in dormitories, except those who are residents if Chapel Hill. This means that Judy, in my opinion, would stand very little chance of getting in. I hate like the dickens to say this to a good alumnus and North Carolinian, but housing limitations require realistic reporting to you. Maybe the situation will be remedied some day.

This exchange is another reminder that admissions has been an important concern for many decades. And each year, admission becomes more competitive. Admissions officers are still reading the last of nearly 20,000 freshman applications for this fall — the most ever received. And the University plans to meet or exceed last year’s record number of North Carolina residents in the freshman class.

Priority continues to be given to alumni children. The rate of admission for children of alumni who are North Carolina residents runs slightly higher (63 percent) than the overall rate for in-state applications (57 percent). Last year, 38 percent of out-of-state applicants whose parents are alumni were admitted, compared with 19 percent of applicants whose parents are not alumni.

An ongoing challenge for Carolina’s admissions staff is confronting persistent myths that are too often confusing and misleading to applicants and their familis. Here are some of the latest of such myths:

• “Carolina has quotas by [school/city/county/region/ race/sex]” — both a certain number of spaces that UNC must fill and a maximum number that it may fill. In fact: Carolina has no quotas other than a UNC System restriction to no more than 18 percent out-of-state students in the entering first-year class.
• “It’s what you do through your junior year that counts.” In fact: It’s what students do through their senior years that count. Carolina does look closely at junior courses and grades, but it also weighs senior courses heavily, and grades from the first semester of the senior year are becoming ever more important.
• “It’s easier to get in if you apply early.” In fact: Carolina doesn’t intend for one deadline to be easier than the other and works hard to make sure that results match intentions.
• “If you’re not admitted, you’re rejected.” In fact: Admissions officers are routinely impressed and humbled by candidates. But with thousands of well-qualified students competing for limited spaces, admissions officers can’t help delivering bad news to students they genuinely like and respect. These students are not rejected. Sometimes their admission is only postponed until they come as sophomore or junior transfers or as graduate students.

It is likely that many of those who applied and were admitted to Carolina 20 or more years ago wonder whether they would be admitted were they applying today. That answer is not really important because we were admitted, we did attend and hopefully not only graduated but took with us fond memories of a life-changing experience. What is important is that we remain well informed about undergraduate admissions so that we can advise those hoping to join us as proud Carolina alumni by first becoming Carolina undergraduates of the 21st century.

Yours at Carolina,

 

 

 

Douglas S. Dibbert ’70

doug_dibbert@unc.edu