Colleges nationwide are expanding the size of their waiting lists, showing that admissions office are becoming "increasingly cautious" in an uncertain economic climate, The Washington Post reported. Several colleges and universities, including the University of Virginia and the College of William and Mary, have complied waiting lists this year that exceed the size of their freshman classes, according to The Post. Administrators from cash-strapped colleges have inflated the waiting list over the past several years to create added security as it becomes more and more difficult to determine which accepted students will enroll, The Post reported. While some students told The Post the waiting list adds another, more complicated element to their college decision-making, an admissions officer told The Post that students accepted from the waiting list are often the most excited to attend the institution in question.
President Barack Obama addressed graduating high school and college students Sunday in an essay published in Parade Magazine. He encouraged graduates to "broaden your concerns to include your fellow citizens and country" and consider public service, green technology research and volunteer work. He urged students not to be discouraged by the difficult economy and the threats of climate change and terrorism, but rather to be proactive in fighting these problems as students have done successfully in the past, he wrote. "No matter what you choose to do, know that you have the ability each one of you to write the next chapter in America's story," Obama wrote. "Times like these move us to find the greatness we each have inside and, in doing so, rediscover the greatness that defines us as a nation."
Williams College is the latest in a group of colleges that has recently have closed its alumni club locations, citing financial difficulties, The Wall Street Journal's Metropolis blog reported May 13. Williams' separate alumni club in New York City will cease operations as of June 1, compelling Williams alumni to share the Princeton Club of New York building along with New York University and Columbia University. Jeff Urdang, president of the Williams Club Board of Governors, wrote on the club's website that the club was "too small to survive independently," after many years of being the only school of its size with a separate club building. The Dartmouth Club of New York is housed in the building owned by the Yale Club of New York City.
