RA/MAA programs take late applications

The University recently extended the deadline for RA/MAA applications, raising concerns among many on campus that the program had not received enough interest. But the administrators in charge of the process said the advising program is healthy.

Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Students Ande Diaz announced that the deadline for the RA/MAA applications was extended to yesterday.

In an e-mail, Diaz said, "Although I have not analyzed any data, to my knowledge the relative proportions of re-applicants are similar to those of previous years."

Butler College master Ted Champlin said there was not a big change in student interest in the program.

"There's usually attrition every year for all sorts of good reasons, but as it happens all nine of my junior RAs have reapplied this year, so there's no shortage of good candidates," he said.

Many current RAs agreed with Champlin.

Veronika Musilova '03 said, "I am really not sure why the deadline was extended. Most advisors from Mathey reapplied."

Diaz explained that though the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate students coordinated the selection process and the centralized adviser training, the interviews, hiring decisions and daily supervision of advising staff takes place in the colleges.

"The application deadline was extended at the request of a couple of the colleges," he said.

Champlin said his college was not involved in the decision.

"Butler did not request the extension. We simply went along with the other colleges in agreeing it was a good idea when it was suggested," he said.

Champlin said he agreed with Diaz that "the number of applicants really isn't out of line historically."

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Instead, he said he thinks that each college heard of good potential candidates who missed the deadline.

However, as Diaz suggested, there are a few other reasons why some RA applicants missed the deadline.

"The tragic events of September 11 and the very unusual fall semester may have made it harder for the colleges to do their usual recruitment efforts and more difficult for students to focus on the application process," Diaz said.

Costin Bontas '03 shared another opinion, "The extension of the deadline is probably not due to lack of interest. Most likely there are many people that would have liked to have applied and have missed the deadline because it was insufficiently advertised," he said.

"The timing wasn't great," said Musilova. "People complained that they didn't have time to complete the application. I know that I had such problems."