<p>
[quote]
Mightn't Mr. Rapelye want to take a peek at other institutions' increases before he claims that Princeton's is due to its recruitment efforts? What if everyone else comparable increases more?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Or look it in the mirror:</p>
<p>While Harvard's President Drew is a bit harder to spot, Janet seems to have lost its luster as a male name. :)</p>
<p>Jeepers. Sorry. I forgot her first name, obviously.</p>
<p>Note that Chicago's RD applications seem to have increased almost 7% -- more than Princeton's -- following a 42% increase in EA applications. So the evidence on how great it is to abandon early admissions programs is pretty mixed.</p>
<p>Oh, JHS, I thought it was funny, and we all can use a bit of levity when seeing the increase in numbers. </p>
<p>As far as comparing the increases at Princeton and Chicago, it is not unwise to keep a bit of historical perspective. When it comes to the ratio of applications to enrollment, Chicago has had a much lower number (fewer applicants for each available spot) and a higher acceptance rate (still 40% 2 years ago.) Without portraying Chicago in an unfavorable color, shall we say that Chicago lagged its peer schools in attracting both high numbers of applicants, especially among the most qualified students. As we know that could have been by design as the school enjoyed its "uncommon" approach. But that is a different issue.</p>
<p>The vast increases at Chicago are part of the process of "catching up" that was started by revamping its reporting to the USnews and becoming more applicant friendly. IMHO, a most welcome --and most needed-- improvement.</p>
<p>PS A quick comparison of last year's numbers</p>
<p>Princeton versus Chicago
Admitted 1,791 to 3,628
Applies 18,942 to 10,408
Admit % 9.46% to 34.86%</p>
<p>One way to look at it is that Chicago attracts 1/2 of the applicants for about the same enrollment and has to admit between 3 and 4 times more students on a percentage basis.</p>
<p>My point is not limited to Chicago. Northwestern -- whose applicant/slot ratio is not unlike Princeton's, although its yield is much lower -- had a much larger increase than Princeton, both in absolute and relative terms, without ending its ED program. It attracted more than twice as many additional RD applications than Princeton, on top of a modest increase in ED applications. (NU went from 1,300 ED/21,000 RD to 1,500 ED/23,500 RD; Princeton went from 18,900 to 20,100. Chicago went from 3,000 EA/7,400 RD to 4,400 EA/7,900 RD. Note that roughly 3/4 of Chicago's increase was in the EA pool, which indicates that what's going on is not just Chicago "catching up", but people voting for EA.)</p>
<p>JHS, the catching up plays a role when applicants perceive strategic opportunities or admissions' loopholes in the form of higher acceptances and then weigh those opportunities against their own set of preferences. </p>
<p>Applying EA at MIT does not yield much of advantage in admissions. Applying ED at a school that accepts 35-40% of its applicants does attract attention. </p>
<p>Applicants do react to changes in perceived opportunities and ... prestige. In other cases, the adoption of a simpler application form coupled with higher admission number might work wonders (see Cornell.)</p>
<p>quinnipiac is up 20%
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/13colct.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin%5B/url%5D">http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/13colct.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin</a>
(article is about college admissions in CT)</p>
<p>yet another article on Northwestern's increase....overall ~12%
NU</a> sets new application record - Campus</p>
<p>this article reports 13.9%
Terre</a> Haute, Indiana Weather, News, Sports and Entertainment WTHI.com, News 10, Leading the Way! | University receives record number of applications</p>
<p>[the first article, a NW newspaper, used the same numbers (25000 this year, 21941 last year) as the second source...but the NW newspaper's math looks wrong, 13.9% correct.]</p>
<p>Since I commented about Cornell past increases, I better add the 2012 numbers:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Cornell's admissions office graciously provided The Sun with this year's admissions numbers yesterday. As of Jan. 14, the University received 32,655 applications total for both Early and Regular Decision. Applications increased for all undergraduate colleges. Last year, The Sun reported that Cornell received a total of 30,382 applications for the Class of 2011. By our calculations, this is an 7.48 percent increase in applications, and according to the admissions report, a 57 percent increase since 2004. </p>
<p>Last year, the University accepted 6,229 total students, marking an acceptance rate of 20.5 percent for the Class of 2010. If the University accepts approximately the same number of people, we calculate that Cornell will reach an acceptance rate of around 18 percent this year, assuming a yield rate of about 49 percent. </p>
<p>In an updated report, Cornell received 3,095 applications for Early Decision. This is different from an older report we received earlier, which indicated that 3,110 students applied. In absolute terms, this number is still an increase of 2.65 percent from last year's. Doris Davis, associate provost for admissions and enrollment, also indicated that 1,142 students were admitted under Early Decision, making up 37 percent of next year's freshman class. This means with updated numbers, Cornell accepted 36.9 percent of its Early Decision applicants, slightly higher than the 36.6 percent early acceptance rate from last year, but down from 38.9 percent two years ago. </p>
<p>The admissions office will release more detailed numbers in February. </p>
<p>Source: Apps</a> Up 7.5%; Predicted Acceptance Rate of 18% | The Cornell Daily Sun
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Did Harvard pay a price for dropping its early admission policy? </p>
<p>We've got the answer:</p>
<p>
[quote]
A record applicant pool
for the College
Applications increase by 18 percent
In the first year without early action, more than 27,000 students have applied to Harvard for entrance next September, shattering the previous record of 22,955 set this past year. Harvard eliminated its early action program starting with the Class of 2012 because early admission programs tend to disadvantage students from modest economic backgrounds and often pressure students from across the economic spectrum to make premature college choices. </p>
<p>Students and their secondary school counselors responded positively to this change, designed to help reduce the frenzy that surrounds college admissions today, said William R. Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid. Eliminating early action also allowed more time in the late fall for us to reach out to students who might not otherwise think about applying to Harvard, he said. </p>
<p>Joint travel with Princeton University and the University of Virginia (both of which have also eliminated early admission) met with an overwhelming reception in November, normally a time when all three institutions would be off the road conducting early admission selection meetings. </p>
<p>Harvard also announced on Dec. 10 a sweeping change in financial aid for middle-income families, establishing a zero to 10 percent of income standard for families with earnings up to $180,000 a year, removing home equity from financial aid calculations, and eliminating loans for all students. This change may have contributed to a portion of the record application total, but applications had been running significantly ahead of last years pace before that announcement. </p>
<p>There is no way to determine with complete accuracy why applicant pools vary from year to year, said Fitzsimmons. Various factors influence individual decisions, and it usually takes three to five years in the admissions and financial aid world before speculation about trends can be verified. Demographics also can come into play as there were somewhat more graduating seniors this year in America. Nevertheless, we are pleased to see that our first year without early action is off to a good start, he said. </p>
<p>Previous enhancements to Harvards financial aid program may also have been a factor. Three years ago, Harvard eliminated the parental contribution for families with incomes of less than $40,000, extended this benefit to those with $60,000 incomes the next year, and reduced the contribution for families with incomes from $60,000 to $80,000. It often takes several years to spread the word about changes in financial aid, said Sarah C. Donahue, director of financial aid. We have made great progress over the past three years with a 33 percent increase in numbers of students covered under these enhancements, but we are still reaching new audiences with our expanded travel efforts, she said. </p>
<p>Harvards outreach begins in the spring with trips to over 60 cities accompanied by Duke, Georgetown, Penn, and Stanford. The joint travel program, led by its director Grace Cheng, continues in the fall, and this year a total of 127 cities were visited in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Our joint travel program continues to be a critical element of our recruitment, said Marlyn McGrath, director of admissions. Direct mail is also important, and we use the College Boards and ACTs search options to reach students as well. Over 90 percent of our enrolled minority students and 70 percent of all students were originally identified on our search lists, she said. </p>
<p>Women comprise slightly more than 50 percent of the pool this year and the geographic pattern is similar to last years, with the exception of larger-than-average increases in parts of the mid-Atlantic and the South (especially Florida). The recorded numbers of students from minority backgrounds will rise as applications are evaluated by admission officers, but the numbers of African-American and Latino applicants already exceed last years totals by a considerable margin. We are delighted to see continued progress and once again we owe a debt of gratitude to the dedicated students who work with the Undergraduate Minority Recruitment Program (UMRP), as well as the many alumni/ae who assist us at the local level throughout the country, said Roger Banks, director of minority recruitment. </p>
<p>While it is still too early to tell if the gains of the past three years will continue for students with incomes under $60,000 and $80,000 covered by the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative (HFAI), students working for HFAI since last summer alongside UMRP have had a productive recruitment season, reaching out to students by telephone, e-mail, and regular mail. We are encouraged by the responses of students contacted by HFAI, and we are grateful to our undergraduates for all their hard work, said Melanie Brennand Mueller, director of the HFAI Program. </p>
<p>Over the coming weeks, the Admissions Committee will be reading applications and meeting to make the final decisions on the Class of 2012. The meetings extend from Jan. 30 to March 20. Letters informing applicants of the committees decisions will be sent on March 31 and they will be notified later that day by e-mail if they requested e-mail. Admitted students have until May 1 to make their final college selections.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Source: A</a> record applicant pool for the College — The Harvard University Gazette</p>
<p>xiggi-- you are truly a fact-hound...thanks for keeping us up to date.</p>
<p>Here's a summary of growth rates [(Class of '12 applicants / Class of '11 applicants) - 1] reported on this thread thus far. Please remember than most are interim estimates (& in some cases guesstimates) & we should expect the numbers to change. Although this is far from a robust data set to draw too many conclusions from yet, I find it interesting that the less selective schools reported thus far seem to be seeing greater increases on average than the more selective ones on average. Of course, there is likely some biased reporting here toward schools that have "good" news, i.e., high growth rates, to get public quickly. We'll see how things shake out.</p>
<p>Ball State 30%
Brown 7%
Charleston 20%
Cornell 7%
Dayton 37%
Harvard 18%
LeMoyne 5%
Middlebury 7%
North Dakota 11%
Northwestern 14%
Princeton 6%
Quinnipiac 20%
Virginia 3%</p>
<p>PC, thank you, but this stuff is easy ... and much easier than tracking down the elusive CDS forms. </p>
<p>Fwiw, if you're still compiling the lists of CDS, you should know that the schools have been adding the 2007-2008 version to their websites at a furious pace. It seems that January is a month where updates are warranted. </p>
<p>And, yes, there are still quite a few schools that believe this information needs to be kept hidden from prying eyes and request passwords. Of course, others simply ignore the "publication" element altogether. </p>
<p>On the other hand, there schools that make a real effort in making data available that goes beyond the CDS. One such school is St Olaf and the result is quite remarkable. </p>
<p>St</a>. Olaf College | IR - CDS Summary</p>
<p>Midwest</a> college applications soar :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Education</p>
<p>puts Chicago at 18%, Northwestern at 12%</p>
<p>Why do you think 41% more students applied ED to Vanderbilt this year?</p>
<p>Vanderbilt ED 803 1,133 41.10%</p>
<p>this is purely anecdotal, but I have heard, as a native of the Mid-Atlantic, that many seniors in our area who are looking at selective colleges are now diverting their customary interest in Northeast schools, toward the South & elsewhere, due to the stress factor of applying to NE schools that as a group have lower acceptance rates. I think that the increased level of competition has caused the student market to do a more thorough look, and the South has much to offer. To me, this doesn't explain the magnitude of Vanderbilt's ED increase, though.</p>
<p>Vandy has also reported that the total number of applicants for the 1,550 spots in next year's freshman class is also running more than 40 percent over the same period last year, and that high school seniors certainly seem to like The Commons. </p>
<p>The Commons, the university's living-learning community for first-year students that begins next fall, is apparently a particularly attractive selling point.</p>
<p>Some might find reading the Admission Blog at Vandy interesting. For instance, the uploaded images of the application process are ... colorful:</p>
<p>
[quote]
More than 27,000 Harvard hopefuls applied to join next year’s freshman class, the University announced on Wednesday. It is the largest number of applicants in the history of Harvard College—at least 4,000 more than last year’s pool of 22,955.</p>
<p>Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 said in an interview Wednesday that the figure now stands at 27,278 and may increase slightly in the coming days. The number represents a more than 35 percent increase over the 19,750 students who applied just four years ago to become part of the Class of 2008.</p>
<p>The size of the entering class has held steady at about 1,650, and Fitzsimmons said his office will need to meet that target again this year. “We will probably project a very high yield, and I presume that we will take a larger than average number of students from the waitlist," he said.
[/quote]
The</a> Harvard Crimson :: News :: Harvard Reports Jump in Applicants</p>
<p>EDIT: Applications also surge at Princeton and UVA</p>
<p>The</a> Daily Pennsylvanian - Lowest-ever early admit rate matched at 28 percent</p>
<p>Penn's early decision acceptance rate decreased by 1 percent from last year to match the school's lowest-ever admissions rate of 28 percent.</p>
<p>Of the 3,912 high-school seniors who applied to Penn early decision last fall, 1,147 were accepted in December.</p>
<p>Those students will compose about 48 percent of the Class of 2012. The 28-percent acceptance rate matches the low set by the class of 2010.</p>
<p>Interim Dean of Admissions Eric Kaplan characterized this incoming class as "more diverse than last year's class at this point."</p>
<p>The percentage of international students increased from last year's record of 9.5 percent to a new high of 10.2 percent.</p>
<p>Of the international students, the greatest percentage hail from Canada, India, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Panama, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.</p>
<p>Though the number of U.S. minority students admitted remained about the same, the percentage of admitted students who are underrepresented ethnicities increased slightly - a result of a smaller acceptance pool.</p>
<p>Penn admitted 72 black students, 235 Asian American students, 77 Latino students and six Native American students.</p>
<p>Geographically, 43 states are currently represented by the Class of 2012, down a hair from last year's 47 states.</p>
<p>Test scores increased slightly overall. On the SAT, Critical Reading scores dropped one point to 696, Math scores stayed even at 722 and Writing scores improved seven points to 712.</p>
<p>This is truly messed up. I've heard that next year will be worse, which isn't good news for juniors like me</p>
<p>It sounds like applications have surged everywhere this year. There were a lot of kids born in 1990!</p>
<p>
[quote]
On the SAT, Critical Reading scores dropped one point to 696, Math scores stayed even at 722 and Writing scores improved seven points to 712.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>So M+V = 1418. if you look at the ED decision thread though, you'd think it's like 1500! just goes to show how stats posted on CC are so skewed!</p>
<p>By the way, is that ED or EA? If that's ED, then UPenn has like 50% of its class coming from ED? That doesn't sound right....</p>
