After a difficult year of recruiting because of less financial aid available to incoming freshman students, the incoming class of 2015 has finally committed to DePauw after the May 1 deadline hit on Sunday. Well, almost.
"We have another week before the dust settles," said Dan Meyer, vice president of Admissions and Financial aid. "But, we had a very good week, and week before that."
The admissions office is looking for an incoming class size of about 620-640, which is a 22% "yield" of the 2,933 accepted students. Although he didn't give exact numbers for the total students committed, in an interview two weeks ago Meyer said the numbers weren't exactly where he wanted them to be. But now, his concerns seem largely to be laid to rest.
"I don't have a prediction, but I'm feeling a lot better than I did a week ago," Meyer said. The office of admissions will not release official numbers for the class of 2015 for another week, and still has a lot of work to process the incoming deposits from students committing to attend next year.
Meyer also said that he hopes the number of students that commit still rises before the class of 2015 is final.
"I would like to see another 25 deposits before we call this a complete success," Meyer said.
Because the deadline only requires the deposit to be postmarked by May 1, other commitments could still be on the way. Meyer said that families were more hesitant this year than in the past because of the lower-than-average amounts of financial aid promised.
"When you take [financial aid] away from families, they are less likely to respond," Meyer said.
The tone is positive in the admissions office, however, and Meyer feels good about the deadline having passed.
"We'll have a better idea next week," said Meyer.
The DePauw will continue to follow the incoming freshman class as the admissions office finalizes numbers.