Carleton received an average of 7.2 per cent more applications from Ontario high school students in 2012 compared with 2011, according to recently released figures from the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre.
Carleton’s increase is significantly higher than the provincial average increase of 2.4 per cent.
“We’ve seen a growth in our first choice — we have 8.3 per cent increases from our first-choice applicants,” said associate vice-president (student and enrolment) Suzanne Blanchard.
“That is important for Carleton, when students put the first choice and there are more applications, and then more commitment to studying at Carleton, which means that we will be able to have a good pool of applications to be able to meet our undergraduate targets for September 2012.”
Blanchard said there were also regional increases in applications this year from Ottawa, the Greater Toronto Area, and from international students.
“All are good news in terms of [Carleton] being a high choice for Ontario high school students,” Blanchard said.
Carleton president Roseann Runte agreed with Blanchard.
“The university’s goal is to educate students,” Runte said via email. ”Each year, about 5,000 students graduate and they are replaced by a new first-year class. This is very good for our current students as it means that we will be able to continue serving them well. If we did not have new students each year, we would eventually disappear.”
First-year film studies student Bryan Tobin said he chose Carleton because it gave him the opportunity to expand and grow.
“Coming from Newfoundland, a small province, it’s hard to get acknowledged for certain degrees,” Tobin said via email. “While at Carleton, you are competing with people around the world.”
He said part of his decision to apply to Carleton was based on the well-ranked sports teams which bring out school pride. Now that he’s a student, he said he finds the classes to be effective.
“The [teaching assistant] discussion groups are very helpful,” Tobin said. “I applied to other universities and got accepted, but felt if I went to Carleton I’d have a greater chance at success and it would look good on a resume.”
