PLYMOUTH, N.H. – The application deadline has come to a close here at Plymouth State College. Since an overwhelming amount of applications were received, the deadline for applications to be turned in and reviewed was April 4. This is the earliest it has ever been since the early 1990’s. The college has rolling admissions, meaning it accepts students as they submit their applications beginning in the fall, and usually allows applications to be considered a few weeks into April, especially if one is a transfer student or readmission applicant. This year there are just too many students to be considered, and a cut off had to be made.
First year students applications, numbering 4,169 along with 404 transcript applications were received in 2002. The total of all applications received last year including readmission students was 4,727. As for this year the number of first year applications was 4,248, and 647 transfer applications. The total including readmission applications was 4,97. That is a 7% increase in applications to the college over past years.
Last years entering first year class was approximately 951 students, and this year the college has asked admissions to cut the incoming class to about 860 students. Steve Goetsch, an Admissions Counselor for the college, stated: “With an increase in applications and a reduction in the entering number of first year students, admission standards have been raised from previous years.: Even though more and more applications are being submitted each year, the college is not accepting more students. They now have the opportunity to be more selective, and this helps to keep the numbers down.
Plymouth State used to be known as many people’s “safety school” when applying to college. Now students are having just as hard a time getting into Plymouth, as they are the University of New Hampshire. More an more students are going to college, so it has made the entire process that much more competitive. Also, once students are accepted to Plymouth, they are expected to excel in their studies. If one does not, the college does not hesitate to take action by putting them on academic probation, which could lead to being severed if grades don’t improve. Once a student has been severed, the process for readmittance is not easy. Plymouth wants the best for its students, suggests that going to a Community College in order to raise grades is a good step. If a student does not show sufficient effort in improving, they will not be readmitted. The college does not believe a student should be given a second chance if no attempt to improve on their own has been taken.
Like many other offices around campus, Admissions was also forced with the new Banner computer system this year. This slowed the process down in the beginning while the staff were still learning and becoming comfortable with the system. Banner is different than the Tigger program used before, and more time was required to enter applications and to complete the entire process. Student workers could not help out as much and more people were hired in order to make it through the process in a reasonable amount of time.