Hillsdale College plans to be the most selective school in Michigan within five years.
As part of the Rebirth of Liberty and Learning campaign, admissions plans to increase its applications by about 40 to 45 percent and raise the average ACT score to 31 by 2018.
“A lot of schools, a lot of private liberal arts colleges in the state of Michigan, simply want to fill their class and that’s their goal, and they have a hard time reaching that goal,” Director of Admissions Jeffrey Lantis said. “We have no problem reaching that goal.”
Currently, the college averages 2,100 applications for a freshman class of about 370, with an acceptance rate of about 49 percent. If they achieve their target 3,000 applications by 2018, that would put the acceptance rate at about 30 percent, well below the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor’s 37 percent acceptance rate.
“We want it to be a demonstrable statistic that we’re the most selective school in Michigan, period,” Associate Director of Admissions Fred Schebor said.
If Hillsdale were to meet that 30 percent rate, it would fall easily into the top 100 most selective schools in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Report’s ranking for the fall of 2012.
Hillsdale is already the most selective private school in Michigan, and schools that Hillsdale is often compared to, such as Thomas Aquinas College and Grove City College, have acceptance rates of 80.6 percent and 84.2 percent respectively, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Hillsdale’s numbers have not always been as impressive. In 2002, Hillsdale had an acceptance rate of 84 percent and an average ACT of 26.
The ACT score of 31 would tie Hillsdale with the University of Michigan.
“Right now, we’re the best liberal arts school, we have the best academic profile of any liberal arts college in the state of Michigan,” Lantis said. “The University of Michigan reports a 31 ACT, so if we can raise our standards that high, we will be able to be as good as any school in the state.”
Lantis said the college is increasing its web and social media outreach, strengthening its base of parent and alumnae volunteers, and increasing its mailings as ways to accomplish the goal.
Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Andrea Clark said the college website is crucial for attracting students since many students check the website for information before they ever contact admissions. She said more resources were recently devoted to the website.
“Right now we are trying to catch up, and I think the sooner we catch up the easier it will be to recruit students in that earlier stage,” Clark said. “If we want more applicants, our web presence has to be competitive with top schools.”
The college published an admissions iBook last semester, an example of the move toward online outreach.
“Online is where 18 year olds and 17 year olds and 16 year olds live so we want to make sure that we have a presence in those areas so that we can recruit better and recruit more efficiently,” Lantis said.
So many more applicants will mean more work evaluating prospective students. Clark said there is a possibility of increasing the counseling staff in the future to maintain Hillsdale’s “personal touch” in recruiting.
That personal touch includes interviewing a large portion of applicants, something many larger schools no longer do. The volunteer alumnae and parents network around the country help relieve the load on admissions by performing interviews and spreading the word about Hillsdale.
“As long as we stay grateful, God will help us,” Schebor said.
