WM Receives Record Number Of Applications

By Amber Lester Kennedy Friday, February 04, 2011

The College of William and Mary received a record number of undergraduate applications for the sixth year in a row.

The college saw a 2 percent increase in applications, bringing in more than 12,800 applications for the Class of 2015. Over the past decade, the number of undergraduate applications has increased by 37 percent.

College officials are calling the applicant pool “the most diverse in the College’s history.” William and Mary saw a 2 percent increase in applications from students of color, which includes African-American, Asian, Latino/Hispanic and Native American students. The college also saw a 23 percent increase in applications from international students.

Henry Broaddus, dean of admission and associate provost for enrollment, said the strength of the applicant pool “bodes well for the class we will enroll next fall.” He credited the rise in applications to increased outreach efforts by admission staff, including everything from in-person visits to high schools to use of social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter. The office also maintains a blog featuring personal stories and insight from admission officers; it was recently named a top 25 admission blog by a college news site called Campus Splash.

Admission staff has started reading and reviewing the applications, and plan to send offers to students by April. “Now comes the hard part,” Broaddus said in a press release. “We’ll make difficult choices to select the next generation of scholars, innovators and leaders who attend William and Mary.”