Promise of increased minority enrollment is easier said than done

The recently approved Wythes resolution outlines a 500-student increase that the trustees believe will help raise the proportion of minority students at the University and, in so doing, create a more well-rounded and varied student body.

This ambitious plan's success hinges on Dean of Admission Fred Hargadon and his staff, who will hand pick the students to make up the larger class.

But yesterday, Hargadon expressed doubts about whether the additional admission slots actually would allow him to increase minority representation on campus.

"I have no better idea about whether the enrollments of students from one or another minority background will increase proportionately . . . than I do about whether there will be a proportionate increase in the number of entering students interested in classics or Near Eastern studies," he said in an interview conducted via e-mail.

The trustees also hope the extra students can be attracted to smaller departments, but Hargadon said he believes there is no way to admit students based on what course of study they would choose.

"Admissions has little control over balancing out enrollments among the various academic departments," Hargadon said. "Students are not admitted according to their tentative likely majors in college."

Hargadon added, however, that he does agree with the Wythes committee that admitting more students would not mean admitting less-qualified students.

"Four years is a long time to look ahead," he said. "But I don't think the additional spots will significantly change the quality of students admitted. Rather, it will just make it possible to admit more students of the same high quality that we now admit."

Other institutions

In the highly competitive world of Ivy League admissions, an additional 125 spots at Princeton will make for that many more happy high school seniors. Admissions officers at other prestigious schools, however, said yesterday they believe it is too early to know if Princeton's increase in size will affect the admissions strategies of other elite institutions.

Doris Davis, associate provost for admissions and enrollment at Cornell, said she would be monitoring the situation at Princeton to see how it influenced her department.

"While it is too soon to know what type of effect this will have on Cornell or other schools with whom Princeton competes for students, you can be sure that admissions individuals like myself will be watching the situation closely," she said in an e-mail yesterday.

Harvard undergraduate admissions director Marilyn McGrath Lewis said she believed Princeton's larger student body would not affect the Harvard applicant pool.

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"I think it could only be great for Princeton," she said. "To expand the opportunity can only be a truly wonderful thing."

Hargadon said a key benefit of the larger student body outlined by the Wythes resolution is that his office will be able to admit qualified applicants who in previous years might have been turned away. "Given the strength and depth of our current applicant pool, having those additional offers to make would be a piece of cake," he said.

Lewis echoed Hargadon's sentiments. "Princeton is able to attract really excellent candidates and we're all in a somewhat painful position of turning people away," she noted.

She added that a larger Princeton class will not have a great impact on other Ivies' admissions processes. "We're all in this together," Lewis said. "Students will sort themselves into the places they want to go."

(Staff Writer Cason Crosby contributed to this report.)