For the third consecutive year, the University of Missouri-Rolla will close fall admissions to its nationally recognized freshman engineering program.

Effective July 1, UMR will close admission to its freshman engineering program for the fall 2005 semester. Qualified undergraduate engineering students who apply after July 1 will be admitted for the spring 2006 semester, which begins in January.

We can accommodate most of the qualified students interested in our engineering programs, but the students who apply late in the admissions process will start the program in January instead of the traditional August start date, said Jay Goff, UMR s dean of enrollment management.

UMR will continue to accept applications after July 1 for admission into UMR s other academic programs in arts, sciences, business, computing and information systems. UMR also will continue to accept applications for its transfer and graduate programs.

The need to cap the freshman engineering applications is due to the freshmen registration deposits exceeding the class capacities.

UMR s freshmen engineering program has been expanded to support approximately 700 new students each fall semester.

Over the last few years, we have added seats in the courses to accommodate the increased enrollment, says Robert Mitchell, dean of the UMR School of Engineering. To maintain the high quality and hands-on approach of our education program, we rely on strong student-professor interactions. Making sure our enrollment does not exceed our capacity ensures that our students receive the best possible educational experience.

Also contributing to the increased student demand is the opening this fall of a new residential college that will be housed in the university s all-suite styled residence halls. The residential college is part of a leadership development emphasis on the campus.

The enrollment cap also ensures that the university can better meet the needs of the entire freshman class, says UMR executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Y.T. Shah. By controlling the size of the classes we can better ensure that our students will have a successful first-year experience and continue to succeed after graduating with a UMR degree. UMR s 2004 graduates reported an average starting salary of more than $46,000.

UMR s enrollment has been growing quickly over the past few years. The fall 2005 freshman class is expected to be up to 30 percent larger than the fall class of 2000.

This fall, more than 900 freshmen are expected to start at the Rolla campus; 690 freshmen were enrolled in 2000. The university s total enrollment in 2000 was 4,748. Enrollment could excede 5,500 by fall.

Students currently admitted to UMR as freshmen for the fall semester, but who have not submitted a registration deposit by July 1, will be placed on a waiting list for enrollment and housing assignments.

For more information contact the UMR admissions office at (573) 341-4164 or email umrolla@mst.edu.