CHICAGO
MAROON The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892
Accepted Take a deeper look at the U of C's admissions trends over the years
News, page 2
TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2011 • VOLUME 122, ISSUE 36 • CHICAGOMAROON.COM
ADMISSIONS
STUDENT LIFE
Admission rate falls
SASA stomps up Mandel Hall
U of C's acceptance rate over the past two years dropped faster than all other universities By Sam Levine News Staff A record low 15.8 percent of applicants were offered a place in the College's Class of 2015, down 3 percentage points from last year, and nearly half of the acceptance rate four years ago. The declining acceptance rate at the U of C falls into a trend of increased selectivity across the nation, as schools have received a flood of applications, which strongly correlates with wider access to the Common Application, increased financial aid, and stronger efforts by admissions offices to attract students. This year, the College received 21,774 applications, a 12 percent increase from last year. Over the last two years, the College has seen a 54 percent increase in applicants, the largest spike in the country. “There are students in parts of the country like the South and California who might not have known about the University of Chicago, who are hearing about the University of Chicago for the fi rst time,” University spokesperson Jeremy Manier said. He added that the expansion of study abroad opportunities, as well as the opportunity to experience Chicago through the Chicago Studies program, has also attracted more applicants. Among its Midwestern peers, the U of C's acceptance rate for the Class of 2015 is slightly above
that of Washington University in St. Louis (15.4 percent), but lower than that of Northwestern (18 percent). This year, the five most selective American universities were Harvard (6.2 percent), Columbia University (6.9 percent), Stanford (7.1 percent), Yale (7.4 percent), and Princeton (8.4 percent). While the College’s acceptance rate is more than double that of some of the nation’s most selective institutions, no school has experienced a more rapid decline in admissions rates than the U of C. While Harvard’s Class of 2015 will have an acceptance rate 1 percentage point lower than their incoming seniors, the U of C's Class of 2015 will have an acceptance rate 22 percentage points lower than the Class of 2012. Manier said he did not think it was fruitful to compare U of C acceptance rates to those of other schools and declined to project what future acceptance rates may look like. “The standard for any institution has to be what you’re doing to best serve students,” Manier said. “Comparing numbers implies that there is a universal standard, which there isn’t.” As the College has become more selective, the percentage of students who matriculate at the University has increased. Last year, while the College’s acceptance rate declined by approximately 8 percent, the yield of students who chose to
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F
ourth-years Anish Patel (left) and Neerja Joshi (center) lead SASA's Raas dancers at Mandel Hall Saturday. The group, which performed the longest piece, recently placed first in an Iowa competition.
MICHELLE YEO/MAROON
STUDY ABROAD
Explosion shakes Jerusalem study abroad U of C Jerusalem program continues and students safe after scare on day one By Jonathan Lai Associate News Editor Following a March 23 bus bombing in Jerusalem that left one person dead and dozens wounded, the U of C study abroad program remains largely unaffected, though the University has issued stricter guide-
lines for its students. Students arrived at Hebrew University’s Scopus Student Village the day the bomb went off, and according to third-year Michelle Boyd, the explosion was far enough away to go unheard. However, word traveled fast. “I could hear all the sirens and
helicopters … then I got this text message in all caps from Hebrew University’s alert system, and less than ten minutes later Ori [Program Assistant Ori Yehudai] started calling us individually,” Boyd said. Ye h u d a i a s k e d t h e s t u d e n t s to stay in their dorms until they
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ADMINISTRATION
CAMPUS LIFE
Molecular Engineering Director named
Students to sculpt events for Smart Museum
Matthew Tirrell in front of the Crerar Quadrangle. He will be the founding director of the Institute for Molecular Engineering starting July 1. PHOTO COURTESY OF LLOYD DEGRANE
By Harunobu Coryne Associate News Editor University scientists and faculty have chosen a leader for the University’s first major foray into the field of engineering as the
founding director of the Institute for Molecular Engineering (IME). A joint committee of scientists and faculty from the University and the Department of Energy’s Argonne National L ab oratory unanimously voted in Matthew
Tirrell, currently the chair at the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California Berkeley. Ti r r e l l w i l l b e g i n h i s n e w position July 1, months before construction begins on the $215 million William Eckhardt Research Center that will house the Institute. “We were considering candidates from Europe, from anywhere around the world,” said Margaret Gardel, a professor in the physics department who sat on the nine-person search committee that formed last May. “We were looking at people who had demonstrated leadership in building organizations.” Gardel added that Tirrell’s success as Dean of Engineering at the University of California Santa Barbara, as well as his pioneering research on polymer physics in the 1990s, showed that he was a strong fit to lead the University’s
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By Ben Pokross News Staff Aiming to add campus input and involvement, the Smart Museum of Art is enlisting students to coordinate events and encourage their peers to take that short walk from the Regenstein Library to the corner of Greenwood and 56th. According to C. J. Lind, the museum’s Public Relations and Marketing Manager, the Student Advisory Committee will start planning more quarterly events similar in nature to Study at the Smart that will target the University student community. “In the past there used to be concerts where there were student music groups,” said Lind, who envisions the Student Advisory Board incorporating the museum space into student life to a greater extent. “Study at the Smart was
really successful and the type of program that we’re looking to expand upon.” Though the Smart Museum became a separate segment of the U of C almost three decades ago, it began as a part of the University of Chicago’s Art History department and has maintained a close affiliation with the University since becoming a public museum, according to Lind. “Our mission is driven by our academic connections, by our relationship with the University,” Lind said. “We really want to get student input.” Th e C o m m i t t e e a s a w h o l e will meet once a quarter to plan new programs, Lind said. He also noted that ad hoc groups drawn from the larger committee might meet more often to flesh out the details of particular events. Third-year Marie Whittaker
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