Applications for the fall class of 2011 are up 18 percent compared to 2010, according to Cindy Singley, director of University recruitment.
"We are accepting about the same number (of students)," Singley said. "Our goal is to have a freshman class of 4,000."
Singley said the current freshman class stands at 4,204, and she expects the Fall 2011 class to have approximately 4,300.
"The reason that is, is you admit a certain number of students," Singley said. "Those students are applying to five or six different schools, so you never know for sure who is coming until our official count after the first three weeks of school when we state our official enrollment."
The Office of Admissions and Recruitment has received between 18,000 and 19,000 applications, and the criteria for admission has become more competitive.
"Honestly, with us trying to manage the enrollment numbers, and as the applications increased, the quality of the applications will increase, so it did make for a little bit more competitive admissions process," Singley said.
Singley said the average ACT score of the freshman class ranges from 24-30.
"So students that are competitive in those ranges would be competitive for admission," Singley said.
Academics aren't the only criteria for admission at Auburn, though. Singley said legacy status and responses to the short answer questions on the application are also criteria that considered for admission.
Freshman housing will be affected as well.
Kim Trupp, director of housing and residence life, said the expected increase of freshmen in the fall means more who apply for housing will be wait-listed because the total amount of housing did not increase.
"I initiated our waiting lists (Feb. 24) for both men and women much earlier this year as compared to last year because I'm expecting fewer applicants who have been guaranteed housing to cancel their reservations," Trupp said.
Trupp said although the number of cancellations is an estimate, she expects being able to offer housing to some freshman on the waiting list.
This summer, Camp War Eagle is increasing the number of sessions offered from eight to 10 and changing to a one-night program.
"We were not willing to sacrifice the amount of time our camp counselors spend in their Tiger Talks with the freshmen," Dunn said.
She said these decisions were made before any indication of class size.
Dunn said there should be 100 fewer freshmen per session.
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