SURGE OF APPLICATIONS TO STONEHILL CONTINUES:
2008 SEES NEARLY 20 PERCENT INCREASE

Applications to Stonehill are at a record level for the second year in a row.

 “This year we’ve received close to 6,800 applications for 625 places in the first year class,” says Brian Murphy, Dean of Admissions and Enrollment. “This represents an increase of nearly 20 percent from last year’s record number.”

Murphy says factors that have produced the increase in undergraduate applications include increased marketing efforts that have ramped up the College’s visibility regionally and nationally – in particular efforts in Minnesota, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio and California. 

An additional factor is the College’s decision in 2007 to make the SAT an optional part of the application process.

“Word of mouth remains a powerful tool for building name recognition as a selective college with excellent faculty and strong liberal arts and sciences, as well as outstanding business and other pre-professional programs,” says Murphy. 

“But recent outreach efforts by the College’s admissions and marketing professionals have helped Stonehill develop greater positive name recognition in areas where we’re now drawing more applications and more students,” he adds. 

He notes that Stonehill College remains a popular first-choice college for applicants from many corners of New England, but that more high school seniors from outside the region see the College as a great way to study in the Boston area without being located inside the city. 

“Having access to all that Boston, Providence and other New England centers offer, and enjoying a classic suburban campus setting is something many students, guidance counselors and parents tell us is an advantage,” he says.

Even with the College’s newly implemented SAT-optional admissions policy, Murphy points out that 72 percent of this year’s applicants chose to submit their SAT scores. “These applicant scores are 30 points above last year’s combined SAT score,” he says.

 01/30/08