The University admitted 12.2 percent of undergraduate applicants this year — 1,670 of 13,654 — representing a slightly higher acceptance rate than last year's 11.3 percent, Dean of Admission Fred Hargadon said yesterday.
For the first time in University history, men and women each received 50 percent of the admission offers, Hargadon said. Minorities made up 35 percent of the acceptances, slightly higher than last year's 33 percent figure.
Thirty-four percent of the Class of 2004 was admitted through the early decision process in December.
Hargadon offered several explanations for this year's higher acceptance rate. "Overall, last year we had an unusually large group who applied," he said, noting that the University received a record 14,874 applications last year.
Despite the lower number of applications, the University still had to turn away many talented high school students, Hargadon said.
"It's far too many. We're just turning down all types of good kids," he said. "When you're starting with a large group, there's some people in there who end up quite advanced in one or another field. There's ones in there we think, for example, will become good writers."
Another reason for last year's higher selectivity rate, Hargadon said, is that the University had an especially limited number of spaces available for the Class of 2003 because this year's sophomore class is unusually large.
The University has room for 1,166 freshmen next year — a number slightly higher than last year's 1,150 student limit, according to Hargadon.
"We were under the gun last year," he said. "We're being a little less conservative this year."
Fewer applications
Hargadon said the slightly lower number of applications the University received this year is not a source of concern.
"None of us really know why applicant pools really bounce around," he noted. "We did learn from applicants this year that they found our application, with the four essays, harder to complete."
Hargadon suggested that a move toward the Common Application — a standard one-essay application that many schools, including Harvard University, now accept — might yield a higher number of applications.
For now, the admission office faces the problem of predicting the size of the incoming class. "My big nightmare is that everyone accepts the offer," Hargadon said.
The yield rate — the percent of admitted students who ultimately enroll — has been between 68 and 70 percent in recent years. "The yield is very difficult to figure out. The 1,600 or so students admitted this year are different from last year's 1,600," he said.
Despite the challenges of predicting the yield rate, Hargadon said he believes the University will still be able to offer admission to students now on the wait list. Last year 94 students from the wait list were accepted.
Gender equality
Though the acceptance of the same number of women as men is a first for the University, Hargadon said the admission office did not specifically set out to achieve the equal proportion.
"This is just pure luck," he said. "We don't care how it ends up — a 50-50 [composition] isn't a goal. We are looking at these people as individuals."
Hargadon also said the admission office was pleased that 35 percent of this year's admittees were minorities. Last year, 33 percent fell into this category.
The number of international students accepted for the Class of 2004 made up nine percent of the total, compared to six percent last year. Hargadon said he believes a new need-blind financial aid policy for international students made Princeton more attractive to foreign students this year.
"We do try to get a good mix of kids of the class coming in who have different experiences and are aiming for different things," he said. "How that mix comes back to us is never as we imagine it to be."
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