Last year GW accepted its standard 49 percent of applicants and a record number responded saying they were eager to come to school here. Now the University is bulging at the seams with its largest freshman class ever – for the fourth year in a row. With the number of applications for next year’s freshman class at 10,200 over last year’s 7,500 at this point in the process, a 36 percent increase, admissions officials should commit to accepting fewer students to avoid the shock of another massive incoming class.

Obviously GW is more popular than ever despite its high price tag and second-tier standing. The University should use this opportunity to improve at least one of those weak points by tinkering with the numbers on which U.S. News places so much emphasis. By lowering the percentage of students admitted, GW can move much closer to the top tier of national universities – a coveted goal administrators budgeted $8 million to accomplish.

Most importantly, the admissions office, trustees and others who decide how many students to welcome to GW should coordinate with the departments those numbers affect most. GW should take stock of its facilities, faculty and staff to realize that playing it conservative is not one of many reasonable options but the only feasible one.

GW administrators must balance their desire for more tuition dollars with the reality that the physical space and student services offered in Foggy Bottom and at Mount Vernon are finite things. There are only so many beds, desks, classrooms and money for more professors and advisors. Offices that provide student services like Student Financial Assistance, Student Accounts, the University Counseling Center, the Writing Center and a multitude of others can provide top notch service for only a limited number of students. Increasing the demand beyond that point of diminishing returns results in less effective service for everyone, as students have noticed in a four-year period in which the undergraduate population ballooned 26 percent.

Much is made of GW striving to be the best, and that is a worthy goal to have. But the best does not always equate to the most. GW administrators should allow the University to digest the massive meal of students it has swallowed over the last four years.

Do not admit another record-breaking class. Instead, bring in a smaller, brighter group of freshmen and watch the University’s rankings rise and student discontent fall.