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Admissions sees increased applicants 6.6 percent more students applied than by Nov. 2007
for one of the earlier notification dates, then two things can happen,� McLean said. “The James Cox student can either be denied or Staff Writer deferred.� If the student is deferred, then The Office of Admissions is they have to wait until the March gearing up to send out its first 30 date for review, she said. batch of acceptance letters on While there weren’t any changDec. 15 after receiving 6.6 per- es to the application process this cent more than at this time last year, Griffin said, the Office of year. Admission is constantly looking “So far, we’ve had 12,008 fresh- to improve. man applications submitted,� “We’re always assessing and Thomas Griffin, director of Ad- trying to improve the [admismissions, said. sions] process if we find probLast year, 17,685 students ap- lems with these [notification] plied, a record for freshman ap- dates,� he said. plications, Griffin said. Griffin said the University Laura sent out 2,200 McLean, a seto 2,300 accepnior associate tance letters on director of Adthe Dec. 15 missions, said notification N.C. State has date. different notifi“This year, we cation dates for plan of sending applicants. out 2,300 to “We have four 2,400 accepnotification tance letters,� dates, Dec. 15, he said. Jan. 30, March However, 15 and March NCSU isn’t the 30,� she said. only public uniGriff in said versity in the Admissions tries nation to see a not to delay on rise in applicaThomas Griffin, director of tions. their notifications. “Early inforAdmissions “If we’ve made mation f rom our decisions, other state uniwe’re not going versities across to sit on them and we’ll send the nation is that everyone is them out earlier than the notifi- seeing an increase in early apcation date but not later,� Griffin plications,� Griffin said. said. And Griffin said a few theories Griffin also said having noti- exist as to why that is the case. fication dates makes it easier on “One theory is that some stustudents and the staff of the ad- dents that would normally go missions office. to a private university are now “The student doesn’t have to looking at a public university for check the mailbox every day, just financial aid,� he said. around the But he warned that it is way too time of the dates,� he said. early to determine what exactly For the admissions staff, Grif- is going on. fin said, “it helps to spread out “All we can do is observe the the applications more efficiently trends,� Griffin said. for processing and overview.� However, NCSU doesn’t have There are no disadvantages to an early decision admissions pronotification dates, he said. cess like some other schools. If a student has his or her ap“Before we switched to noplication submitted in time for tification dates, we did rolling the Dec. 15 notification date, admission and early action,� the student will get to know how McLean said. competitive his or her applicaGriffin said early decision tion is, according to Griffin. doesn’t advantage the student “If we could fill up the fresh- at all and that it only helps the man class with all straight ‘A’ school out not the student. students, we would do that,� “We’ve been more interested in Griffin said. letting the student make an inWhat ends up happening, he formed decision,� Griffin said. said, is the University will admit Most schools that have early a student with borderline grades decision are moving away from later in the application process it, he said. to fill up with higher quality students. “If a student is not accepted
“Early information from other state universities across the nation is that everyone is seeing an increase in early applications.�
Staff Report
Dead Week and what’s to come Dead Week comes and goes every year with the same complaints from students — this year is no different. During this final week of classes, University regulations mandate that professors should not assign anything that has not already been in the syllabus to be due during Dead Week, including projects and tests. This has been in place since Dec. 2004. As a result, students end up
spending this week working on final projects and papers, rather than preparing for final exams. Although the Student Senate has called for revisions of this policy in 2007 and in 2008, advocating for all projects and research papers to be due no later than the Friday preceding Dead Week, no changes have been made to the policy. However, students who will still be around in fall 2009 have something else to look forward to — if they see it as a good thing, anyway. The Student Senate passed a resolution last semester pushing
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Culture task force studies campus climate, diversity Task Force to recommend changes to campus climate, student conduct and free expression tunnel policies Derek Medlin Managing Editor
Members of the Campus Culture Task Fork Committee met for the first time last Tuesday, and the three subcommittees formed in the meeting will meet during the coming weeks. Chancellor James Oblinger formed the committee to begin the preliminary discussions about what changes need to be made in order to make the culture on campus better, and the subcommittees will discuss recommendations for changes in the campus climate, Student Conduct practices and Free Expression Tunnel and Brickyard procedures. The committee’s formation was one of the measures the University took following the Free Expression Tunnel graffiti Nov. 5 which made refer-
TIM O’BRIEN/TECHNICIAN FILE PHOTO
Students and student senators came together Nov. 19 to discuss Resolution 36 regarding hate speech and the consequences for those who painted the racial slurs on the Free Expression Tunnel Nov. 5. The senators voted in favor of the bill, which recommended changes to the University’s hate crime policy.
ences to shooting President-elect Barack Obama. Tom Stafford, vice chancellor for Student Affairs, said the first committee served as an organizational period where members
could discuss plans for subcommittee meetings. “I thought it went very well,� Stafford said of the first meeting. “It was an organizational meeting and that was our primary
purpose. We wanted to review the different incidents that have happened and assign people to the subcommittees.� COMMITTEE continued page 3
AN END TO NO-SHAVE NOVEMBER
MATT MOORE/TECHNICIAN
In the common room in the Honors Village, Daniel Farrell, a sophomore in biomedical engineering, shaves a balloon covered in shaving cream with a tree saw Sunday night. Other contestants’ balloons popped but Farrell’s did not. “It was a lot more challenging than I thought it would be, as I saw the saw I was intimidated,� he said.
Preparing for the worst during Dead Week Reading days planned
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for the University to implement reading days, which the University has approved. So, after Thanksgiving Break, students will go through the Dead Week rituals, and then have two days of the following week as “reading days,� where no classes or exams are taking place Monday and Tuesday. Exams will then begin that Wednesday and continue through the following Thursday. Until then, here are some studying tips to get students through Dead Week: Study in chunks: 20 to 50 min-
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UNIVERSITY POLICY ON DEAD WEEK :
Lab tests and semester project reports and presentations are permissible during the final week of classes. Papers and homework may have a due date during the final week of classes only if scheduled in the syllabus. However, in order for students to prepare for final examinations, faculty members may not assign other tests, quizzes or additional papers during the final week of classes. Assignments should not have a due date during the final exam period unless the assignment constitutes a part of the final exam. Exceptions to this policy must be approved in advance by the department head and the dean of the college involved. Students should contact the appropriate instructor or department head if they believe an assignment is not in compliance with this regulation. SOURCE: REG 02.20.14 SECTION 2 , STUDENT GOVERNMENT WEB SITE
ute time periods followed by a brief break (5 to 10 minutes) is the most effective way to study. Use daylight hours: an hour of
Seniors critical in victory story. See page 8.
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DEAD WEAK continued page 3
CASH FOR YOUR BOOKS Visit our Website for a complete list of books “open to buy� www.ncsu.edu/bookstore - updated daily now through Dec. 17!
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