Admissions dean: region no longer turns off students
Prospective Union College students aren't complaining about Schenectady any more. After 14 years on the job, Admissions Director Dan Lundquist said being in the Capital Region has gone from being a liability to an asset.
“The Capital District has changed an awful lot in the past 10 to 15 years. When I first came here, you couldn't buy an avocado in the supermarket,” Lundquist said. “And I don't want to sound like the Tech Valley chamber of commerce, but with the upgrade in the airport, and now we've got Borders, Barnes and Noble, multiplexes, and a Thai restaurant.”
This year, Lundquist announced that Union College has hit an all-time high in applications, with 4,300 received so far, an increase of more than 100 over the previous high. When Lundquist was hired in 1990, 2,800 students applied to Union. (The college generally admits three times as many students as it expects to enroll, a ratio that has remained stable over time, Lundquist said.) In making the announcement, Lundquist attributed the rise to a combination of factors, including the college's new Minerva House System, the popularity of terms abroad, and its undergraduate research program. But he also noted that the Capital Region itself has become a selling point.
REASON TO REJECT
For over a decade, the college has polled applicants who turned down an acceptance letter from Union, asking the students why they decided to go elsewhere. And for years, the number one answer was Schenectady.
That is no longer the case.
Schenectady was also among the top three reasons students gave for transferring elsewhere; the other two being a lack of social diversity and lack of academic challenge. This too has changed.
Union junior Joanna Stern, who took issue with Lundquist's announcement in a recent editorial in the Concordiensis, the college newspaper, said she is pleased the college is gaining popularity, but she doubts Lundquist's explanation.
“I definitely thought it was a positive thing the spike in admissions,” Stern said. I just didn't think the reasons he was giving for the increase hold water here on campus.” In a telephone interview, Stern said Schenectady is still a liability in many ways. “There's news here every week of another robbery on campus, they don't want kids living off campus because of break-ins, these aren't selling points for the school,” Stern said. “As a junior, I can say that Schenectady would be a huge factor if I were just applying.”
Stern also questioned the oncampus opportunities Lundquist listed. Many students apply to Union expecting to spend a term abroad, only to find that they are wait-listed or never go thanks to cutbacks. The Minerva House system is just getting under way, and while it shows promise, Stern said it has yet to become a significant social factor. Lundquist said he is drawing his conclusions from the comments of applicants to the college.
ACADEMICS, PRESTIGE
With Schenectady no longer an issue, Union students are comparing the college to competitors based on academics and prestige, Lundquist said. Students who choose Union cite challenging academics, while those who turn it down go to a school they think will be more challenging.
“Negative comments about Schenectady were a pervasive theme for quite a while in the reasons why people would not come to Union or why they would leave after they came,” Lundquist said. “That is changing.”
Lundquist said Union is gaining a reputation among its clientele having good access to the internship and research opportunities that have grown in the Capital Region. He named Super Power and CardioMag Imaging, two hightech companies with Schenectady facilities, as willing venues for Union interns.
“For our students to work as an aide for the state or hop over to Michigan Ave. and be an intern at Super Power or CardioMag . . . these days the internship piece is pretty big,” Lundquist said.
“From an admissions points of view it's interesting to see a former negative recede and become a positive,” Lundquist said.
Lundquist said the proof – in the form of higher applications numbers and survey results – is confirmation of a suspicion that has been growing in his mind for the past two years. “I suspected it because as I travel around the U.S and as I see record numbers of visitors coming to campus, the comments were changing,” Lundquist said. “People would say, 'wow, this place is great,' or 'Schenectady is better than I thought it was.' I wanted to smile and cringe at the same time.”