Last fall, 48 students took POL 345: Quantitative Analysis and Politics. But in this year’s course, 121 students are enrolled: a 250-percent increase in enrollment.
ORF 245: Fundamentals of Engineering Statistics, the only other class open this fall that fulfills the statistics prerequisite, saw a 35-percent increase in enrollment from 99 students enrolled last fall to 134 this semester.
Wilson School Dean Cecilia Rouse declined earlier this semester to say how many undergraduates the Wilson School could support, though she said the program was ultimately prepared for a potential expansion. The selective major typically admitted 90 students to the department in the spring, though frequently as many as twice as many apply.
As announced last Spring, members of the Class of 2015 will not have to apply to concentrate in the Wilson School, but will be required to take four prerequisites: one microeconomics course, one history course, one statistics course and one course in politics, psychology or sociology.
“The goal is to encourage students to get a background in the disciplines before they enter the majors so, we can reach a higher level within the major,” Undergraduate Program Faculty Chair Christina Davis said.
Other courses that satisfy the statistics prerequisite — ECO 202: Statistics and Data Analysis for Economics abd WWS 200: Statistics for Social Science — are not offered this semester.
Politics professor Marc Ratkovic, who teaches POL 345 this semester, said he hopes the reason for the large enrollment in his course is its real-world applications, not just the fact that it fulfills a prerequisite.
“The focus of the course has been on practical data analysis and how to think of data and to relate data to problems,” Ratkovic explained. “In this course I am trying to move closer to the computer and hands-on approach to statistics.”
Students see the material in the course as directly relevant to their junior papers and senior theses, Ratkovic said. He said students should take the course because they recognize these practical applications.
Students know POL 345 is a Wilson School prerequisite, which is why so many people are enrolled in the course this fall, according to sophomores in the class interested in concentrating in the Wilson School.
Naomi Lee ’15 predicted the concentration would “balloon in size.”
“The administration seems to think the added prerequisites will do the same job as the selective process beforehand,” she said, explaining that she felt this was not true.
Lee said the large enrollment in POL 345, one of two courses available to fulfill the statistics prerequisite this semester, is a sign that the number of Wilson School majors is likely to increase, noting that students sat in the aisles on the first day of POL 345.
Operations research and financial engineering professor Philippe Rigollet, who teaches ORF 245, attributed the increase in enrollment in his class to a revamped curriculum and change in the focus of the class.
Historically the class has been targeted toward engineers, he said. But this semester, Rigollet said the statistical applications of the class are “pretty universal.” Rigollet utilizes data sets that reflect a wide range of disciplines, and he attributed the bump in enrollment to the fact that the class has become more accessible to a wider range of students.
Barbara Zhan ’16, a student in ORF 245 this semester, said the course is just as applicable to the hard sciences as it is to research in the Wilson School.
Beyond the enrollment numbers in these two courses, there are few indications as to how large the department will grow, if it grows at all.
However, interested sophomores remain concerned for the Wilson School’s future direction.
“I just hope the Wilson School will maintain its prestige,” Isaac Lederman ’15 said.
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