Following a surge of applications to the University's undergraduate schools at the beginning of the decade, a national trend has brought a drop in applicant rates this year.
LSA Dean Edie Goldenberg announced the University's applicant rates for the class of 2001 were significantly lower than in past years. The finding was presented to the LSA executive committee at the start of the month.
"The applicant rates are not as down as they were a few weeks ago," Goldenberg said. "But they are down across the country. Admissions are not down. Early admission is at a rate that is equal to last year."
Undergraduate Admissions Director Theodore Spencer said he estimates that this year's applicant rates are down 4-5 percent.
"(Applications) are slightly down, but the deadline is Feb. 1. We always keep it open for a few days," Spencer said.
"We are concerned, but we are not where we think it is time to press the panic button," Spencer said. "We receive 20,000 applications and we only enroll 5,000.
"We do not think that the quality of applicants has diminished in any way."
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Lincoln Faller said the decline in this year's University applicant rates may be part of a national trend.
"The drop might be the consequence of an increasing trend," Faller said.
"Applications have been inching up over the last few years. This may just be part of the continuing tendency," Faller said. "Where in the past students may have made 10 applications, this year they may only be making eight."
Other top universities around the country also reported a decline in the number of applications they have received this year.
Marlyn McGrath Lewis, director of admissions at Harvard University and Radcliffe College, said Harvard University received 18,165 applications last year, but this year they expect only 16,600 applications.
"The only thing that I can put my finger on is that I think it could be the effect of the binding early admission programs," Lewis said.
"Last year Yale, Princeton and Stanford offered binding early action and early decision programs," she said. "By definition if you get in (under these programs), you have to go. We will never even see your application."
Marsha Lynch, chair of the counseling department at Grosse Pointe South High School, said the University's application decline is probably not a result of early decision programs. She said students at her high school typically apply to the University early in the fall - before applying early decision to other schools.
Rather, she said the decline in applications may be due to competitive and financial issues,
"We ask them to apply to fewer universities," Lynch said. "Four or five years ago kids were applying to 10, 12 or 15 schools, which is ridiculous, besides being expensive.
"It's tough to get into the University of Michigan, and it's been tougher every year," Lynch said. "That scares some of the kids away."
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central High School senior Jill Gilbert has been accepted.
"I just wanted to get the burden off my shoulders," Gilbert said. "The earlier you get it in, the better your chances of being accepted."
Gilbert said that students in her class seemed to apply to fewer schools than students in past classes because of the difficult nature of the applications.
"I think a lot of the applications are getting complicated to fill out, with multiple essays and teacher evaluations," she said. "Also, many people might know where they want to go and therefore do not need to apply to so many schools."
Goldenberg said it is too soon to analyze the cause and effect of the decline.
"One concern is that this year the admissions required two essays instead of one," Goldenberg said.
"We didn't know if that was delaying anything. But since it is a pattern across the country, it does not rest solely at the University, it could just be a result of changes in demographics."
Faller said the only effect of the decline might be a smaller class of 2001.
"Next year's class may be a little smaller, but the last two classes have been larger than usual," Faller said.
"Over the long term this does not represent much of a change. There is no indication that the quality of candidates is down, just the quantity," he said.