<p>Frida - here’s the whole article:</p>
<p>Vassar receives all-time high number of apps for Class of 2014
Early admission rounds result in 265 acceptance</p>
<p>After a final meeting of all Office of Admissions officials on Jan. 25, Early Decision (ED) II applications for the Vassar Class of 2014 went through a last round of scrutiny. The entire Early Decision enrollment of the Class of 2014 has finally been settled.</p>
<p>A total of 639 students applied to Vassar College through ED; of those, 379 students applied ED I, and 260 applied ED II. The total is slightly higher than last year’s total count of 596 applicants. Of this year’s applicants, 265 students were accepted. This acceptance rate, 41.5 percent, is slightly lower than last year’s 44.1 percent. In general, the rate of acceptance for ED applicants is higher than the rate for the entire applicant pool. For example, the acceptance rate for the entire Class of 2013 was 25 percent. According to Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid David Borus, “students who apply through Early Decision indicate that their first choice is Vassar, and the early dates also placed a harsher time constraint for them.” Borus thinks these reasons make it logical to accept a higher percentage of students from the ED pool.</p>
<p>The ED Class of 2014 comes from high schools in 37 states, the District of Columbia and nine foreign countries. Borus expects that “when the entire class is chosen, it will include students from 45 or more states and about 25 foreign countries,” explaining that “while [the admitted ED students] certainly have similarly excellent academic credentials [as Regular Decision students], those who apply early tend to be somewhat less geographically diverse than the entire applicant pool…Most international students and many students from areas of the United States outside the east coast and/or major metropolitan areas are more likely to apply in the Regular Decision pool.”</p>
<p>Such students tend to be somewhat less informed about colleges in this region. For example, while many students in major cities can readily travel to visit universities, other students will find it more demanding, and therefore have a difficult time choosing one particular college to which they would like to apply ED. According to Borus, the ED pool also tends to be somewhat less socioeconomically diverse than the overall pool, as some families wish to compare financial aid awards in the spring and are therefore reluctant to commit to a single college early.</p>
<p>According to Borus, Vassar has always been known as having maintained a diverse student body. The Class of 2013 included students from 46 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 33 foreign countries. This year, Vassar will continue to apply the criteria of cultural diversity to make the Class of 2014 thrive as a varied, but united whole. As the application process progresses, more incoming students will be filling out these diversity gaps.</p>
<p>According to the data, around 35 percent of ED students are men and 65 percent are women. As Borus puts it, “The Early Decision pool always contains a preponderance of female applicants, with the majority of men applying later in the process.” This ratio will become more balanced as the application process continues. In last year’s accepted class, 60 percent were female and 40 percent were male.</p>
<p>Despite the current economic crisis and the ensuing budget cuts, Vassar College retains a need-blind policy for financial aid. This means that any student’s chance of being accepted would not be affected by their financial status. This year, 59 percent of the accepted ED students indicated that they were applying for financial aid, and the financial office will make sure to meet their needs 100 percent as demonstrated. Despite ongoing financial difficulties, affirms Borus, the College still intends to maintain a diverse class of high quality regardless of financial background.</p>
<p>Borus postulates that, of the 265 students admitted from the ED process, one or two will probably decide not to enroll at Vassar, typically for financial reasons. Also, a few others will decide to defer their admission for a gap year and then come to Vassar in the fall of 2011 as a member the Class of 2015. Under these circumstances, approximately 260 of these students, ultimately, will become official members of the Class of 2014.</p>
<p>As the ED application period draws to a close and as students around the world are reading their admission letters with great excitement, the Regular Decision application process goes on. This year, the overall number of freshman applications for the year is up more than three percent—or around 240 applications—from last year’s final total. As of this Monday, according to the data from Borus, the Office of Admissions has received 7,818 applications for the Class of 2014. “This is another all-time Vassar record,” Borus said.</p>