Ivy admissions selectivity increases in record year

Admissions dean Fred Hargadon's last handpicked class is a record-breaker, both in the number of applications received and in rate of selectivity.

In keeping with trend witnessed by other Ivies, the University received a record 15,725 applications for spots in the Class of 2007, and accepted 1,570 students, Hargadon said in an email. The acceptance rate of 9.9 percent is down this year from 10.8 last year.

Princeton continues to lag slightly behind Harvard University, however, which reported an admissions rate of 9.8 percent, according to the Harvard Crimson.

The number of applications was up 8 percent from last year, when the total received was 14,521, Hargadon said.

Of the students who received the last set of Hargadon's infamous "YES!" letters, 591 were admitted early decision in the fall. These numbers are only slightly lower than those for the Class of 2006, for which a total of 1,585 students were admitted, and 585 of whom were admitted early, Hargadon said in an email.

"This increase surprised us since Princeton is one of the few colleges that still does not use the Common Application, a popular and relatively painless way for students to file any number of multiple applications," he said.

Of the Ivies, Dartmouth College, Yale University and Harvard use the Common Application.

In line with the University's trends, Harvard and Yale also received larger numbers of applications and saw their admissions rates drop. Harvard received an unprecedented 20,986 applications, up by 6.7 percent from last year, and extended acceptances to 2,056 students, according to the Yale Daily News.

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Yale received 17,731 applications and admitted 2,015. Its admissions rate dropped to 11.4 percent — its lowest in history — but it continues to lag just behind Princeton and Harvard in this area.

Brown University accepted 14.9 percent of applicants, which is a 1.7 percent drop from last year. Dartmouth was also more selective this year, admitting 17.7 percent of its class, which is 2.3 lower than last year.

Cornell is the only Ivy thus far to have reported an increase in their acceptance rate, which rose from 24.4 percent for the Class of 2006 to 29.5 percent for the Class of 2007.

Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania have yet to disclose their admissions numbers.

Early decision

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At Princeton, the percentage of the class admitted under early decision remained relatively stable, rising from 36.9 percent for the Class of 2006 to 37.6 percent for the Class of 2007. The University exceeds only Dartmouth and Cornell in percentage of students accepted early, with Dartmouth and Cornell respectively admitting 37 and 36 percent of their incoming classes early.

The University of Pennsylvania admitted 47 percent of its incoming class early, the highest percentage of early admits for the Class of 2007 in the Ivy League. Columbia and Yale reported the second highest numbers, each admitting 43 percent of their classes under early decision, according to the Yale Daily News.

The makeup of the '07's

Princeton applicants came from 6,051 different secondary schools and 117 different countries, Hargadon said. Out of the initial 117 countries, 57 are represented among the admitted students, and international students make up 10.3 percent of this group.

Also, of those U.S. citizens and permanent residents admitted, 34 percent are of minority background, 10.5 percent are children of alumni and 7.1 percent are the first generation of their families to attend college, Hargardon said.

With admissions to Princeton and other Ivies growing more competitive each year, newly appointed dean of admissions Janet Rapelye, will take over for Hargadon next year, and Hargadon relinquishes the task willingly.

"No one is more aware than those of us on the Admission Office staff of just how many terrific applicants we ultimately had to disappoint," Hargadon said. "I happily turn over what I believe will become an increasingly difficult responsibility to my recently named successor, Janet Rapelye."