The University of Rhode Island’s office of undergraduate admissions has seen an increase in applications for the fall semester, despite the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the process online.
The graduating class of 2021 has had a different year than most, with their final year of high school, college tours and orientation being fully online. Dean Libutti, vice provost for enrollment management, said that although admissions have been difficult this year, there has been an overall increase in applications.
“This year’s recruiting cycle started quite differently, as prospective students were, and still are, unable to visit campus,” Libutti said. “High school seniors were behind in applying to college early on in the semester. Fortunately, due to great efforts by our admission team, faculty and staff, we were able to enhance our virtual recruiting efforts and close this gap.”
Among these efforts were virtual open house events, virtual tours and connecting prospective students with current students and faculty over email and text, according to Libutti. He also talked about the need for workshops on essay writing and financial aid as students are applying for college through their high schools.
These efforts have paid off, Libutti said, because URI anticipates receiving approximately 25,000 applications this year. According to Libutti, this is a school record. Admissions is now looking forward to a high yield season, the time period where students who were offered acceptance to the University choose to accept or deny their admittance.
One of the few noticeable differences between this year is the number of in-state applicants. Rhode Island applicants have been slower to apply due to COVID-19 at URI, but numbers have been the same at other Rhode Island institutions, according to Libutti. This has led the University to launch a series of additional outreach events for in-state students, which has had a positive impact.
“We changed it all and are pleased with our results so far,” Libutti said. “In these challenging times, students and families needed help applying to college and we were and are happy to assist in new ways.”
Emma Beal, a soon-to-graduate high school senior in Brookfield, Connecticut, said that her college application process has been challenging yet exciting.
“When applying to schools this year, I had to rethink my whole plan due to the pandemic,” Beal said.
She said that not being able to visit schools was the biggest challenge, because she couldn’t get a feel for what the schools were like in person.
The applicant pool is much larger this year for all universities, with many seniors applying blind to as many schools as they can with no real opinion on them, according to Libutti. Beal said this was frightening, as it meant her chances of getting into her reach schools were slimmer.
“Schools like URI made it so much easier for me to feel comfortable with my decision to apply,” Beal said. “URI’s communication to me through email, online events and virtual tours made me feel like I knew the school already and the type of environment it is.”