The University of Delaware received a record number of applications for admissions this year.
UD applications are up 4 perfect from last fall, and up 25 percent from just three years ago.
The application pool is also the most diverse it’s ever been – with prospective students from minority groups making up nearly a third of all in-state applications. Currently 21% of UD students represent minority groups, and that number is expected to grow this year.
The university’s Executive Director of Admissions Doug Zander attributes that to recent changes in their admissions process.
“One of the things we were finding over the last few years is that there are an awful lot of Delawareans who just assume that they can’t come to the University of Delaware, they hadn’t even been applying," Zander said.
Because of that finding, the university's been working with local high schools, the Dept. of Education and community groups like TeenSHARP to find out what they need to do to make the university more accessible - especially to underrepresented students.
One potential barrier Zander says they discovered – test scores.
“There’s a lot of research now that helps us in admissions understand that there’s way more to being able to predict a student’s success than just grades and test scores," Zander said.
Zander says the university now allows Delaware high school students to decide whether or not they want to submit their SAT/ACT score along with their UD application.
If they don’t, students are required to include a series of essays to help pick up on non-cognitive cues indicative of a student’s success. They can also add on information about particular experiences, passions, projects, and more.
