Unexpected number of confirmations prompts officials to house 91 students in study lounges
By SCOTT BRODFUEHRER
Assistant News Editor
Many high school students want to attend Notre Dame. While the admissions office usually recieves this as good news, by the end of May it had 100 more confirmations than it planned for. At that time, preparations began to welcome this extra-large freshman class.
"This caught us off-guard completely, this is the highest acceptance rate we've ever had," said Dan Saracino, assistant provost for enrollment.
The admissions office uses the number of students who generally accept Notre Dame's offer of admission to determine how many students it should admit for an optimum class size of 1,935. Unlike last year, when 57 percent of students admitted decided to attend Notre Dame, this year 61 percent of students decided to attend.
To accommodate the additional students, 39 study lounges in nine dorms were converted to dorm rooms. In the mod quad dorms — Knott, Pasquerella East, Pasquerella West and Siegfried — half of the six section study lounges were converted into triples. In the west quad dorms — Keough, McGlinn, O'Neill and Welsh Family — three study lounges were converted into doubles and three convertible rooms, designed to act as either a lounge or a room, were changed to doubles. In Dillon Hall, three study lounges were converted into triples.
According to Scott Kachmarik, associate director of residence life and housing. the converted rooms offer several benefits over current rooms. They are carpeted, contain modular furniture and are more spacious. However, all of the rooms except the dual purpose lounges do not contain a sink. Students placed in these rooms were informed in a letter that they were placed in a converted study lounge and do not have a sink. In male dorms, mostly transfer students were assigned to the converted lounges and in female dorms, mostly freshmen were assigned.
"The thing to keep in mind is who's placed in these rooms. The freshmen students [placed in the rooms] are those whose confirmation cards were received late, after May 1," Kachmarik said.
Rectors are asking for student's patience and understanding with the fact that there is a loss of study space and for those students that do not have a sink.
"Certainly it's a loss for the hall, but I can't really complain because [West Quad dorms] have more study space than the rest of the dorms. If there are extra students, we need to open our doors to them. We will probably set up alternate study spaces, but part of this is having to tell students to deal with it," said O'Neill Hall rector Father John Herman.
Two years ago, study lounges were also converted to dorm rooms, and, according to Herman, the lack of a sink was not a major issue.
"Guys [in the converted lounges] just have to use the bathroom more than others," said Herman.
With the additional students, changes were also made in academic and advising departments. Additional sections were added to classes and a new adviser position was added to the First Year of Studies. Students should only see larger classes in the Psychology and Engineering.
"We were able to manage by providing extra sections, and with the addition of the new adviser the number of students each adviser has actually has gone down," said Associate Dean of the First Year of Studies Angie Chamblee.
To avoid having too many students next year, the admissions office will decrease the number of students that it offers admissions to.
"Next year, we will be admitting fewer students and will be more cautious," said Saracino.
All News Stories for Sunday, August 26, 2001
