Brandeis has gotten into the habit of increasing its acceptance rate. According to the April 7, 2009 edition of the Justice, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions accepted 40 percent of undergraduate applicants, the equivalent of an 8-percent increase over the past year. And recently, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Prof. Gregory Freeze (HIST) announced that the class of master's students to matriculate at Brandeis increased by 55 students. Although many have bemoaned the undergraduate increase, the increase of master's students is nothing but a positive change for the entire University.

Since Brandeis is facing a significant and sustained projected deficit, the financial aspect of this development is a good place to start. A larger number of master's students increases revenue for Brandeis. Freeze confirmed this in last week's issue of the Justice. According to Freeze, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences budget "went from a deficit of $1.7 million last year to a positive $300,000 this year."

Increased acceptance strengthens the degree in two ways. Quantitatively, the average GRE scores improve among applicants to graduate programs.

Qualitatively, the Brandeis experience itself is enhanced. More master's students means more participants in seminars, which are much better when there are more voices and perspectives.

As a graduate student myself, I can safely say that Brandeis graduate seminars are far from being overcrowded. Increasing the number of seminar participants will not meaningfully decrease the amount of time for which each student has the opportunity to work with his or her professor.

More master's students also leads to course innovation. Many students enroll in "reading courses," which are small seminars that focus on discussing the most important and cutting-edge literature in a subfield. Often, only a small number of students enroll in these reading courses. With more students, a readings course could become a full-blown seminar.

I saw this in my own scholarly life when I worked with a professor at Boston University. I started with a proposal of a reading course in national security history. Then the professor announced the course at Boston University, and a collection of master's students got involved. My humble reading course turned into a valuable, rigorous and intellectually thrilling seminar in which many students enrolled.

More master's students will only serve to reinforce Brandeis' already strong research reputation. Master's students in most liberal arts fields are required to write a thesis, which is a piece of original research in the field in which they study. Because of this requirement, more original research will be conducted at Brandeis by its master's students, and that boosts our overall contributions in the larger academic community.

Furthermore, Brandeis master's students may go to other distinguished universities to do research, thereby connecting the Brandeis scholarly community with others like it.

Increasing the number of master's students supports an equation by which everyone wins. The University gets extra funding, average GRE scores rise and graduate students have more inquiring minds to collaborate with. Professors benefit from networking opportunities and the exciting challenges of working with a greater number of students on original research. Alumni and those who care about Brandeis see the reputation of the University enhanced.

In a rather challenging period for the University, this may be one of the most exciting and important positive developments this semester.