"Acceptance Rate Hits an all time low"

<p>An interesting article on this year's admissions. By my calculations the real acceptance rate was 24% ED (with some athletes etc. included, so effective is lower for most) approx 13.5% for RD (including deferred students). </p>

<p><a href="http://www.thedartmouth.com/article.php?aid=2007033001010%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.thedartmouth.com/article.php?aid=2007033001010&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I thought it was more higher than 24% for ED but maybe I am wrong.</p>

<p>Copy of the Article from "The Dartmouth":</p>

<p>Acceptance rate hits all-time low<br>
By Victoria Boggiano, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Friday, March 30, 2007</p>

<p>With over 14,000 applicants to the class of 2011, Dartmouth posted a record low acceptance rate of 15 percent, accepting only 2,165 applicants.</p>

<p>With a two percent increase in applicants over last year and a 20 percent increase in the last five years, the applicant pool for the Class of 2011 is the largest in College history.</p>

<p>Other Ivy League schools also experienced record numbers this year. According to the Financial Times, Harvard received a record 22,955 applicants, with a record-low acceptance rate of 9 percent. Similarly, the University of Pennsylvania saw an 11 percent increase in the number of applicants and a drop in its acceptance rate from 17 percent last year to 15 percent this year.</p>

<p>According to outgoing Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg, this steady increase reflects Dartmouth's growing domestic and international popularity.</p>

<p>"We have done a lot of outreach and that involves admissions officers visiting high schools all over the world and the country to talk about Dartmouth," Furstenberg said. "We are also doing much more through the internet, sending students e-mails about updates and online publications."</p>

<p>Furstenberg also credits the growth to on-campus programs that Dartmouth hosts, including frequently updated information sessions and tours for prospective students, as well as events such as Dimensions that target admitted students.</p>

<p>"All these little things taken together create a bigger presence for Dartmouth out around the country and the world, and that leads to more applications," Furstenberg said. "We have extraordinary resources, amazing faculty and curriculum, wonderful facilities, and our very generous financial aid program is clearly a factor in this."</p>

<p>One Dartmouth regular decision applicant, Vivian Haime '11, said she applied to Dartmouth after hearing about the esteemed faculty and student body.</p>

<p>"At first I was just looking at schools close to home, but all the students I know that go there told me that it was the best place in the world," Haime said. "Clearly there was something about this place that people just loved. I talked to a lot of students and alumni and they also said it has a strong sense of community."</p>

<p>In December, 380 students were accepted to the College from an early decision pool of 1,285 applicants, yielding a 24 percent acceptance rate.</p>

<p>Of the students accepted to the Class of 2011, there is a fairly even male to female ratio, with 38 more females accepted than males.</p>

<p>Furstenberg said the admitted pool is composed of talented and interesting students who will perform well both in and out of the classroom.</p>

<p>"We want people who have real intellectual energy," Furstenberg said. "We also think about their potential for future growth and their ability to contribute to Dartmouth's learning process."</p>

<p>One measure of the academic strength of the pool its SAT averages. This year's average math and verbal scores were 726 and 723 respectively, which are comparable to previous years. Furstenberg noted that the new writing section on the SATs are not given as much emphasis during the acceptance process because the College is unsure of how this section reflects intelligence.</p>

<p>Also of note, 37.2 percent of students were valedictorians of their high schools, and a record 94.4 percent were ranked in the top 10 percent of their class, up from 93.1 percent last year.</p>

<p>Of the admitted students, 134 are legacies, down from 148 in the Class of 2010. Furstenberg stated that the legacy connection is an advantage to a student's application, though it is only one contributing factor.</p>

<p>In terms of diversity, 41 percent of those admitted are students of color, up from 39.5 percent last year.</p>

<p>African American and Latino students composed 10 percent and 9 percent of the admits respectively, up slightly from last year.</p>

<p>The number of Asian American students increased from 17.7 percent last year to 18 percent this year, and Native American students compose 4 percent of the admits, up from 3.6 percent last year.</p>

<p>Public school graduates compose 64.5 percent of the class, down slightly from last year, with an increase in the number of students from private and parochial schools to 31.7 percent and 3.9 percent respectively.</p>

<p>This year there was also an increase in the number of accepted applicants from the American South and West. Furstenberg attributes this shift to an increase in the numbers of applicants from these regions.</p>

<p>"There has, over the years, been a clear shift in population from the northern to the southern tier of the country, and we've done a lot of recruiting in the South and the West," Furstenberg said.</p>

<p>Also noteworthy is the increase in international admits, up from 163 students last year to 201 students this year.</p>

<p>"This year, the number of international students we've admitted is the largest ever," Furstenberg said. "We've really done a lot of recruiting internationally, and through the expansion of financial aid resources we've been able to admit a lot more."</p>

<p>With 47 percent of all the admitted students receiving some sort of financial aid, Furstenberg said that the College's generous financial aid program works to create a more diverse student body, both domestically and internationally.</p>

<p>Those admitted have until May 1 to decide whether or not to attend Dartmouth. Furstenberg estimates a 50 percent yield, consistent with yields in past years.</p>

<p>For the record: An article on Friday ("Acceptance rate hits all-time low," Mar. 30) incorrectly stated that 308 applicants were accepted to Dartmouth via early decision this year. The correct number is 380.</p>