Majority of Ivies see rise in applications

The University was among several Ivy League schools to see a marked increase in applications for admission this year, Dean of Admissions Fred Hargadon said, as decision letters were mailed to prospective members of the Class of 2006 yesterday.

Application numbers were also higher at Columbia, Harvard, Yale and Dartmouth Universities, but dipped at Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania.

Officials at Brown University declined to release their admissions figures.

More than 14,500 students applied to the University this year, a 1.4-percent increase from the 14,287 applications for the Class of 2005. There are about 1,100 spots in each class.

Hargadon said this year his office tried this year to offer more spots to performing artists in an effort to strengthen the University's art scene.

In particular, more "YES!" letters were sent to dancers and musicians, he said. The jazz ensemble will be a "notch above" what it has been in the past, Hargadon proudly explained.

The move to bring more student artists to the University reflects a broader effort to create a more diverse student body. And this effort has made more artistically-inclined high school seniors consider the University.

In the last three years, the University's dance program has received a marked increase in the number of applicants who send in audition tapes or request campus auditions, the program's director Ze'eva Cohen said. Other arts programs have seen a similar rise in applicant interest, Hargadon said.

Although admissions decisions were mailed yesterday, admissions acceptance figures for the University were not available.

Last year, Princeton accepted 11.7 percent of applicants for the Class of 2005. The percentage over the past five years has been between 11.3 and 13.1 percent.

Decision letters from the other Ivy League schools are being sent out this week.

Despite concerns regarding the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City, Columbia posted a 0.6-percent increase in applications. Columbia received 14,137 applications for slightly more than 1,000 spots.

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"There was some concern because 9/11 happened in New York City," Columbia admissions officer Geoff Saavedra said.

Dartmouth College saw the biggest increase among reporting Ivy schools, receiving 4.9 percent more applications than last year, admissions officer Maria Laskeris said.

The final count for applications for Dartmouth's Class of 2006 was 10,193, with 22 percent of applicants being offered admission. Dartmouth officials said they had a record number of minorities and international students apply this year.

"The academic profile of students admitted to the Class of 2006 is outstanding in all respects, and the admitted group is noteworthy," Laskeris said.

Yale drew more applicants as well, The Yale Daily News reported. Regular decision applications increased by one percent, leaving the admissions office to consider 14,950 for a class of 1,300.

Yale's admissions dean Richard Shaw was unavailable to confirm figures.

Harvard University received 19,520 applicants, a 2.6 percent increase from last year, for places in a class of approximately 1,600, Harvard spokeswoman Andrea Shen said.

While Princeton and other schools celebrated their recruiting success, applications to Penn dropped from 19,153 to 18,776. Cornell registered only a slight dip. Last year, 21,518 students applied, according to the school's website. This year, 21,497 applied, admissions officer Peter Orschidt said.