For the past 20 years, the number of applications for the 30 seats in the College of Social Studies (CSS) have hovered in the 30s and 40s. This year’s application process, however, was much more competitive, with 61 students vying for a place in the program.
“It was really tough on…everyone this year,” said CSS applicant Yelena Niazyan ’11. “I think that everyone felt more pressure going into it. Previously we had all heard that it wasn’t a thing to really worry about…but this year there was definitely more anxiousness.”
Neither students nor CSS faculty are used to such high numbers of applications—in recent years applications had been considerably low.
“It bounces around,” said CSS Co-Chair Peter Kilby. “Last year it was in the neighborhood of 36 or 37 applicants. The year before, there were 24 applicants for 30 spots.”
With the exception of spikes every few years, the number of applications has been fairly consistent, though in the past numbers have reached as high as 80.
The surge in applications came as a surprise and no one was able to offer an explanation for the occurrence.
“The recruitment effort was much like before,” Kilby said. “One difference is that there were no posters used this year.”
Some speculated the increased competition is not CSS-specific.
“Maybe it means that the University is getting more competitive on the whole,” said CSS applicant Max Rothstein ’11. “It could just be a reflection of that trend.”
The surge in applications raises questions regarding the possibility of expanding the CSS program.
“Since this is something that just happened two weeks ago, nobody’s put on their thinking caps to think about that,” Kilby said. “There were a few [applicant pools] with huge numbers but they were spread and there was no thought of expanding the program then.”
The main constraint for expansion would be the lack of faculty. As it is, the CSS faculty is made up of professors culled from other departments, compared with that of the College of Letters (COL), which has its own faculty.
“They really shouldn’t [expand the program],” Rothstein said. “Unless they also bring more faculty for it, in which case I would totally support it.”
Unless a trend appears in applications, the faculty does not plan to focus on expanding the program. As of now, CSS professors are looking into the mystery of the application surge.
“The short answer is we only have speculation,” Kilby said.
Leave a Reply