Class of 2025 breaks past admission record

 Lewis & Clark’s College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) class of 2025 is the largest undergraduate class in the college’s history, with over 700 students.

This past admissions cycle, LC admitted the same number of students as they had in previous years. Prior to this year, around 12% of admitted students would typically accept the offer of admission. However, this year, acceptance rose to 16%. 

According to Eric Staab, vice president for admissions and financial aid, there is no clear answer as to why the class of 2025 is so large, but there are a few contributing factors. 

“During the pandemic, there were many obstacles the college faced, yet, the college remained open, holding classes on campus, and students were here.” Staab said. “Many students wanted to go to a college that was going to be in-person, and LC showed that they have managed to hold classes during a pandemic all while having a low COVID positivity cases.”

LC’s decision to remain open for college tours also played a role in the significant number of acceptance offers.

Many private colleges in the United States increased their acceptance rates in order to recuperate any financial difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, for LC, according to Staab, there was no financial aspect in the decision to take on a larger class this year. 

LC’s target size for the class of 2025 was originally only 550 students. Yet Staab remains confident that exceeding this target by over 150 students will be relatively manageable.

“Total enrollment is not so different from certain years before, and … the college is not currently over enrolled as an institution,” Staab said. “The biggest challenge that LC has faced is mainly living spaces; the housing department over the summer worked hard to make accommodations for the students coming into Fall 2021.”

Campus Living has had to adopt unconventional methods due to the large number of students living in residence halls. For example, some lounges now function as dorm rooms. Campus Living intends for this overflow housing to be temporary. 

Frankie Spurbeck ’23 is a Residential Advisor in Odell Hall. According to Spurbeck, the top floor of Odell has had four “forced triples,” which are double rooms converted to house three residents.

Spurbeck has 39 residents on their floor in Odell Hall. They described a few other challenges that come with the large class size. First, they had to spend a lot more time meeting with students and constructing roommate agreements. Also, with 40 people living on the floor, there are only six communal showers available for the residents. Finally, Spurbeck mentioned that with more students, there is more noise and activity in the dorms. Quiet hours have been difficult to maintain. 

Ashlyn Kelly ’24 currently has three roommates. She originally requested to be in a double, but was unexpectedly placed into a quad.

“I think it has some challenges for sure, and it is definitely not what I expected,” Kelly said. “It is hard to live in a small space with so many people, especially coordinating social and academic schedules.” 

Kelly said her classes are larger than expected, but it does not seem to surprise her. She speculated it could be due to an increase in the number of deferrals last year and a large number of applicants this year. Despite the large class, Kelly maintains that LC was the right choice.

 “It is a small liberal arts college with a great community,” Kelly said. “But I think the biggest difference is the rooming situations. I know that the idea of having five people in a dorm room does not sound fun.” 

Even with all the difficulties that come with a large class, both Spurbeck and Kelly have an optimistic outlook on the situation, emphasizing the positive impacts more students may have on the community.

“The fact there are so many students makes it a livelier community,” Spurbeck said.

Photograph by Lewis & Clark College

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