Admissions season - every college student remembers it with varying degrees of fondness. This year, high school students from across the nation applied to Boston College in unprecedented numbers. This new record trumps that of last year, when applicants vied for positions in the class of 2011. The upward trend that has occurred in the last few years seems to have persisted for the class of 2012.

This year, a record high of over 31,000 BC hopefuls mailed their transcripts, resumes, recommendations, and other paperwork to Devlin Hall. The '07-'08 candidates represented a 5 percent increase from last year's pool of 28,850. While the number of transfer applications has yet to be determined, the admissions office projects receiving between 75 to 100 transfer requests.

BC strives for a freshman class of 2,250, maintaining the relatively static school population of around 9,000 students. Ideally, these 2,250 replace the outgoing senior class. This has led to a drop in the acceptance rate at BC; according to USA Today, BC's acceptance rate hovers around 32 percent. BC was ranked 41st in the nation for selectivity, making BC more selective than schools such as New York University and Colgate University, but was surpassed by Harvard, which admits only 10 percent of its applicant pool, Notre Dame, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

This trend has repeated itself at other colleges and universities, which have seen similar results.

According to an article published in The Hoya, the student newspaper at Georgetown University, the school's admissions office received 18,750 applications - a drastic increase from the 16,163 received last year.

Many may question what effect this new record high of applicants to BC will have on the campus as a whole.

John Mahoney, director of admissions, said that there would be none. Referring to the 2,250 freshman class size that BC strives for, the numbers are anticipated to work out as usual.

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