Although the College is proud that its student body contains students from every single state and over 60 different countries world wide, it highly values its relatively large in-state population. Senior Associate Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Judith Brody put it to words saying, “you have to play well in your own backyard.”

As colleges and universities compete to increase diversity on campus they can sometimes get caught up in a “numbers game” and neglect the excellent pool of applicants from within their very own state. Therefore, while the College seeks to attract international students it also makes a conscious effort to reach out to students who live in the state. These efforts are evidenced by the fact that 10 percent of this year’s incoming class is from Maine.

One example of the ways in which the College encourages students from Maine to come to the Hill is Maine Event Day, which took place this past Monday. On Maine Event Day, students from high schools throughout Maine and their families were invited to come spend a day at Colby to get a sense of what life is like here. 

In addition, every admissions officer will take two days this fall to visit Maine high schools to raise awareness about the College and discuss how a Colby education can be made financially accessible to those who could not otherwise afford it. In the past, Maine students’ financial aid package was guaranteed to be loan-free. Now this is guaranteed for all students who receive financial aid, regardless of their state or country of origin.

While the College sees the value of engaging the Maine applicant pool during the admissions process, it also acknowledges that decisions about higher education are often made much earlier in students’ academic careers. With programs such as the Wabanaki Initiative, students from Colby, Bowdoin and Bates work hard to raise the academic aspirations of elementary and middle school aged students from Wabanaki Reservations throughout Maine to teach them about the value of a liberal arts education.

The hope is that students who have grown up thinking they will never go to college will learn that it is not such an elusive dream and will be motivated to work hard in school in order to achieve it, whether at Colby or at another institution.