College admission rate shows increased selectivity

The College's Class of 2007 is nearly complete; as of Thursday, May 1, 1,160 of the 3,550 students admitted to the College have accepted their offers of admission, a yield rate of approximately 30 percent.

This is the rate projected by the Office of College Admissions, said Ted O'Neill, Dean of College Admissions. "Many of the students who applied were at the top of their classes, so they might have also received acceptance letters from Harvard and Yale, and some of our other peer colleges." Approximately 50 students on the waiting list of 500 will be offered admission over the next month.

Applications to the College rose 12 percent this year, one of the largest increases in the country. With the increase in applications, the College's admittance rate has continued to drop; only 39 percent of the College's applicants were accepted this year, and the College's acceptance rate is 20 percent lower than it was five years ago.

The increase in applications to the College has, O'Neill said, led to increased selectivity. More than 70 percent of accepted students, for example, will graduate in the top 5 percent of their class. SAT scores of accepted students also have increased; this year, enrolling students at the 25th percentile scored 1340, and enrolling students at the 75th percentile scored 1490.

O'Neill attributed the increase in both applications and selectivity, in part, to the growing popularity of the University, but also to its increasingly aggressive outreach campaign, which began five years ago and aims to diversify the College. College Admissions has over the years increased its mailings, its use of the Internet and its school visits, both nationally and internationally.

O'Neill also believes the availability of online applications has been one factor in the application increase. About 50 percent of all applications this year were submitted online.

Of the 3,550 students accepted, 52 percent are female, and 9 percent are international students.