Applications for admission to Penn State for the 2000-2001 academic year have again broken previous records, with more than 71,000 applications already received, according to University President Graham B. Spanier, who said he expects that number to continue to rise as fall approaches.
But despite this surge in interest, Spanier said Penn State is still holding to its plan for controlled enrollment growth that was put in place in 1996 when the University reorganized its campuses.
"This is an overall increase of nearly 5,000 applications over last year, which was a record year," Spanier told Board of Trustees members on May 12. "Enrollment, however, is remaining relatively stable, as we projected."
Graduate applications are up 3 percent, while out-of-state applications have increased 18 percent. Penn State's Dickinson School of Law also has experienced a phenomenal jump in applications, with the number of students seeking admission this year rising by 36 percent over last year. There also has been a 16 percent increase in the number of students of color who are applying to Penn State.
"About one in six prospective medical students in the U.S. have applied to our College of Medicine in Hershey," he added.
The president said that under the 1996 plan, the University is enrolling a smaller proportion of freshmen and is focusing its future growth at the campuses on upper-division students, primarily by retaining students who are completing their sophomore year at a Penn State campus, thus reducing demand at University Park.
Last year, total University enrollment was 80,873, with undergraduate enrollment virtually identical to 1998 figures. University Park enrollment fell by 311 students to a total of 40,658. Total enrollment at other Penn State locations increased to 40,215, mostly at the junior/senior level.