Syracuse University had a record number of regular and early decision applicants for the 2013-14 academic year.

The university received 28,000 regular decision applications, said Maurice Harris, dean of admissions.

The number has increased by 10 percent from last year, with 2,500 more applications than the 2011-12 record-breaking year, Harris said.

Early decision applications increased by 19 percent, making it the largest pool of early decision applications in SU history, he said.

“Virtually across the board, almost in every college, we saw an increase,” Harris said.

The only school with a decreased number of applicants is the School of Architecture, Harris said. The College of Visual and Performing Arts saw the largest increase in applicants, up 20 percent from last year, he said.

“It is important to consider that VPA has been competing with performing art schools around the country for a declining market,” Harris said. “Yet there is still a significant growth in applications.”

Both the David B. Falk School of Sport and Human Dynamics and the L.C. Smith College of Engineering saw impressive increases of 14.5 and 16 percent, respectively, he said.

For fall 2013, the enrollment goal is 3,400 students on Main Campus and 35 students spending their first semester in Florence, Italy or Strasbourg, France, he said. The first round of regular decision applicants will receive decisions on March 15.

The trend of an increased applicant pool is most likely due to a new, deliberate recruitment strategy SU has implemented within the last few years, Harris said.

SU buys the names of students who score highly on standardized tests – mainly sophomores and juniors who have taken the SAT or ACT, Harris said.

Traditionally, SU has focused on the SAT test, which dominates the perimeter regions of the United States such as New England, the West Coast and the Southeast, he said.

“With increased attention on the ACT test, we expanded our pool of applicants,” Harris said, specifically in the Midwest and middle regions of the country.

Another branch of the recruitment strategy was an online marketing campaign through Carnegie Communications, Harris said.

The marketing campaign placed advertisements for SU and specific schools within the university on 700 websites worldwide, with targeted cities in mind, he said.

“The campaign wouldn’t just focus on California, but Los Angeles,” he said. “Not just India, but Mumbai.”

In fact, due to the marketing strategy, international applications increased by 4.5 percent this year, he said. China is the largest international population represented, but there are recent upward trends in Western European and Middle Eastern countries as well.

But recruitment strategy and increased number of applicants is not about the growth of any specific group or segment of society, Harris said.

“It is very evenly distributed,” he said.

The recruitment strategy has had a significant effect across the country, with SU receiving a rise in applicants from Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C., Harris said.

“This strategy is having a dramatic impact,” Harris said. “We are poised to see this continue.”

Published on February 11, 2013 at 10:00 pm

Contact Jen: jbundy@syr.edu