With 1146 members in the Class of 2005, this year's group of incoming freshmen will be Dartmouth's largest in history and may face some issues because of its size.
Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenberg said he expects an attrition of an additional 15 to 20 students before Fall term registration. Yet, even added to the 39 students who have already deferred -- 13 of whom accepted an Admissions Office incentive of one year's free room and board -- this puts the expected class size at about 1,125 -- still 50 students more than were originally intended.
"It's obviously going to be the largest class we've ever had," Furstenberg said, adding that, although the same number of applicants were accepted this year as last year, the large class size was due to an unexpected increase in yield.
Even the Class of 2002, which has approximately 1100 students, is slightly smaller than the projected number of '05s.
Their large class size will influence not only their own Dartmouth experience but that of their younger peers as well.
With 39 deferrals this year, a slightly larger than average proportion of the Class of 2006 is already set, leaving fewer slots for next year's applicants. This will be taken into account in the admissions process, according to Furstenberg.
"[Next year] we're going to be really cautious and probably admit fewer students," Furstenberg said.
Although the Admissions Office will still look to admit a class of average size next year -- approximately 1,050 to 1,075 students -- they will likely admit fewer students and, if the yield decreases from this year, use the waiting list to build up the class size.
Before the Admissions Office begins to look at applications for the Class of 2006, the '05s themselves may see some difficulties themselves.
Already, the '05s have faced a housing crunch, which the Office of Residential Life is attempting to solve by creating temporary housing in the 5-week period before the '05s descend on Hanover in order to accommodate the '04s displaced by their arrival.
Currently, some of the overcrowding is relieved because about 60 percent of each class participates in at least one of the College's study abroad programs.
However, according to Exchange Coordinator Peter Armstrong, with more potential applicants, it will probably be "a bit more difficult" for '05's to get into such programs once they arrive. This will be especially true, he said, among the most competitive options -- such as Art History in Florence, Environmental Studies in South Africa and English in Dublin and Glasgow.
Although occasionally new sections of programs are added when student interest is especially high, Armstrong said that whether new sections might be added for an increased number of '05s "all boils down to financing."
The off-campus options may differ slightly for incoming freshmen, according to Assistant Dean of Residential Life Deborah Carney, at least one on-campus offering will probably remain the same.
The 100 extra students will be "easily absorbed" by the existing Coed Fraternity Sorority System, Carney said.
Since approximately half of each class decides to join Greek houses, the projected 50 additional students probably will not make a difference in the rush process, according to Carney.
"I don't think there will be any significant difference with those recruitment numbers," she said.However, past experience suggests that '05 rush could present problems. Despite the fact that the Panhellenic Council has historically attempted to guarantee bids to all women wishing to pledge sororities, they were not able to do that for the Class of 2002. That year, a larger than average class size combined with a larger than average interest in sorority rush created a situation in which many women did not receive bids.
