Ninety sophomores learned Friday they will shape the future of public policy when they were selected from 167 applicants to major in the Wilson School. The number of applicants this year was up from 156 last year and 145 in 2001.
Stanley Katz, chair of the undergraduate program at the Wilson School, said that the admitted class represented a "very strong group, with clear ideas of what public policy was."
Katz said the pool of applications was evenly divided between domestic and international policy.
Internationally, students were most concerned with HIV/AIDS as well as development and environmental issues, Katz said. Domestically, health and education were the most popular fields of interest.
Wilson School concentrators participate in junior task forces, interact with policymakers outside the University and often receive funding for senior thesis work and study abroad, said Anne-Marie Slaughter '80, dean of the school.
The application, which comprises a transcript, a recommendation and personal essays, asks students to specify an area of interest.
"The main thing we look for is an understanding of and commitment to study of public policy," Katz said. "If students want a disciplinary education, they should go somewhere else."
Katy Glenn '05 was accepted to the Wilson School and will be concentrating on human rights in Latin America.
Glenn said she felt the school would be the best way for her to pursue her goal to be a human rights lawyer, citing the school's multidisciplinary approach as a "more practical way to look at real-world problems."
Glenn said she thought the application process was fair, but she wishes the school were noncompetitive.
"It makes some people apply just for prestige," Glenn explained, "and it's a shame that some people don't get in who deserve to."
Katz said the Committee regretted turning down many qualified applicants.
"But for sophomores this is the only competition left," he added. "There are always some Type-A students who are competing because it's the only thing left to compete for."
Slaughter explained that the undergraduate program must limit its numbers to be able to provide concentrators optimal resources for junior and senior independent work.
"Beyond 90 would be difficult," Slaughter said. "We would have to augment faculty and resources in a way that would change the nature of the program."
But she stressed that the school's role on campus reaches far beyond its concentrators. Many WWS courses are open to everyone, and the School works with student organizations and sponsors speakers throughout the year.
"The school is a resource for the entire University," she said.
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