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Admission update: MU sees record number of applicants

Catherine Couretas, Editor in Chief

Class of 2014

As of May 20, Miami University was sitting at just over 3,700 students with confirmed admission for fall 2010.

Director of Admission Laurie Koehler said the target was 3,450 to 3,550, which may be more accurate as "summer melt," or students who have paid the deposit to attend but change their mind, occurs.

She said the university received 16,917 applicants, an increase over last year, adding that applications were up from international students.

Koehler also said the greatest influence for students accepting admission to Miami was the strong commitment from the university to financial aid.

"Last year, we had less money for a lot of reasons; previous class sizes, the economy that obviously hurt us pretty tremendously," Koehler said.

Ann Bader, a senior admission counselor, said 64 percent of the 2,035 accepted students that attended Make it Miami! Events, in which they had the chance to meet with current students, faculty and staff and learn more about the university, have enrolled for fall.

Both Bader and Koehler said the most dramatic increase in applications was to the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).

Koehler said those applications were up 31 percent, with the overwhelming major that led to that increase being the new bioengineering major.

Housing

Lucinda Coveney, director of housing and meal plan services, said the university currently has 7,125 beds, 3,500 of which have been set aside for first-year students.

"It's really much too early to tell what our occupancy is going to be for fall," Coveney said. "I think we're well prepared and we're going to be able to accommodate everyone."

Unlike last year, Coveney said the overflow rooms in Havighurst Hall will not exist anymore, but there will still be one large room in Hepburn Hall.

The room in Hepburn previously had a capacity of 34 students but has been changed to 14, and Coveney said things have been set up to provide more privacy.

"The rooms that at one time or another had six students in them are very large rooms, sometimes used as student lounges, and they're very nice accommodations already," Coveney said.

Coveney doesn't expect, though, that there will be great need for these rooms, as there is always fallout before classes begin and when students don't show up, those in larger capacity housing will be moved.

Last year, the men that were in the overflow spaces with the capacity of more than 6 students were out within two weeks, Coveney said.