Admission Invites All to Celebrate Record Year

For the fourth straight year, more women have applied to enter Smith College than ever before.

Surpassing last year’s record of 4,128 first-year Smith applicants, this year’s 4,321 applicants to become members of the class of 2016 is more than the Office of Admission has ever received in a single year.

To help celebrate the applications record, the Office of Admission invites all in the campus community to join an afternoon fete, complete with cake, on Tuesday, Feb. 7, from noon to 2 p.m. outside the Campus Center Café.

Smith new-student applications first broke the 4,000 mark in 2009, and have continued to increase each year since.

“It’s the higher profile of the college that is the best marketing tool for the admission office, and this year was no exception,” said Debra Shaver, Dean of Admission. “We had record-breaking attendance at our on-campus programs, and it’s no surprise, once a student sees the campus she is much more likely to apply. We also traveled more, used the Web and social media more, and increased the number of Smith book awards at high schools. Our alumnae volunteers attended many more college fairs, and we created an ‘I Like Smith’ campaign for admitted students.”

The application success is a college-wide team effort, Shaver emphasizes. That’s why the Office of Admission invites everyone to stop by for a piece of cake and thanks for contributing to another record-breaking year.