Duke and Penn receive record number of applications

College Search & Selection
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<p>Will we continue to see a flight of applications to schools that offer full support in financial aid?</p>

<p>By Janet Lorin
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Applications for undergraduate admission rose to record levels at the University of Pennsylvania and Duke University as students were attracted by financial-aid policies.
The sticker price for students exceeds $50,000 a year at both institutions. Duke, in Durham, North Carolina, received more than 29,500 applications for the next academic year, an increase of 10 percent to an all-time high, according to a statement today. Penn’s applications rose 14 percent to about 30,800, from almost 27,000 a year ago, the university in Philadelphia said in a separate statement.
“We believe that one of the primary reasons for this significant increase is Penn’s no-loan financial aid policies, which enable students who qualify for aid to graduate free of debt,” said Eric J. Furda, Penn’s dean of admissions, who called the number of applicants a record.
At Duke, “families are responding to our commitment to make Duke affordable,” said Christoph Guttentag, dean of undergraduate admissions. More than 60 percent of applicants to the campus indicated they will apply for financial aid, he said.
Duke has “need-blind” admissions and will “meet 100 percent of demonstrated financial need,” according to the statement.</p>

<pre><code> College Costs

Duke’s costs for tuition, fees, room and board total
</code></pre>

<p>$52,405 this academic year, compared with $51,944 at Penn. The expense for the next entering class hasn’t been set at either institution.
Penn said it will release decisions on regular-admission applicants on March 30. Duke said it will notify applicants in early April. Early-admission candidates have already been notified at both universities.
Students in California sent in 4,032 applications, the most of any state to Penn, Furda said today in an e-mail. That figure was equal to 13 percent of Penn’s total.
Penn’s early applications, which were due in November rather than this month, climbed 19 percent to 4,571, the university said in December. That percentage increase was the largest in the Ivy League, a group of eight universities in the northeastern U.S., according to data provided by each institution. The early applications were included in the total released today.</p>

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<p>Wow…so what’s the admit rate going to be this year? Guesses?</p>

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<p>crap lol…I applied to Penn. </p>

<p>Any info on other schools?</p>

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<p>I’m wondering the same thing… what does this mean for admissions rates?</p>

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<p>Damn. I applied to both of them. I looked up the numbers and I’d say Duke acceptance rate drops a single percentage to 14.6%. Penn gets closer and closer to that 10% mark with a little under 13%. Just based off the number accepted students last year plus a small number of more students added on, divided by applicants this year.</p>

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<p>

Well, let’s do the math for Duke.</p>

<p>Incoming class total: 1700
ED admits: 645
RD spots available: ~1050</p>

<p>Total applications: 29500
ED applications: 2200
RD applications: 27300
ED deferred: 695
Total RD pool: 27995</p>

<p>So you have 28,000 applicants for roughly 1050 spots. The typical RD yield (32%) would result in the acceptance of ~3280 students for an RD admit rate of 11.7% and an overall admit rate of 13.3%. </p>

<p>The basketball championship win last year and Duke’s winning streak this year, however, could affect things. Duke’s RD yield only has to reach 37.5% in order to dip to an RD acceptance rate of 10% (and overall admit rate of 11.7%), and with strategic use of the waitlist, that could well be possible.</p>

<p>Now let’s do Penn!</p>

<p>Incoming class total: 2400
ED admits: 1190
RD spots available: ~1200</p>

<p>Total applications: 30800
ED applications: 4557
RD applications: 26243
ED deferred: ~1200
Total RD pool: 28243</p>

<p>So you have 28,200 applicants for roughly 1200 spots. The typical RD yield (46.5%) would result in the acceptance of ~2580 students for an RD admit rate of 9.13% and an overall admit rate of 12.2%.</p>

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<p>Agree, Duke is a hot school-academics, athletics, alumni network, mild climate. Holy Cross-very good LAC-is need blind for admissions and has a January 15th application due date.</p>

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<p>[Number</a> of 18-24 year olds in United States, 2000 - 2050 | Newgeography.com](<a href=“http://www.newgeography.com/content/00269-number-18-24-year-olds-united-states-2000-2050]Number”>Number of 18-24 year olds in United States, 2000 - 2050 | Newgeography.com)</p>

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<p>Great point UCB, as always. I should have considered demographics as a key component of recent application trends.</p>

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<p>With the math and a little playing around, I’d say they both draw around 12-13% overall admit rate.</p>

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<p>Demographic projections indicate that colleges are in great shape for the foreseeable future in terms of having lots of applicants.</p>

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<p>Schools.like the Ivies, Duke, Holy Cross that are need blind-meet 100% of demonstrated financial aid should continue to see increases in applications in tough economic times. Also Duke and Holy Cross have very good alumni networks which are big assets in job placement.</p>

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<p>The following schools state they are need-blind and full-need:</p>

<p>Beloit College
Boston College
Bowdoin College
Brandeis University
Brown University
California Institute of Technology
Carnegie Mellon University
Claremont McKenna College
College of the Holy Cross
Columbia University
Cooper Union
Cornell University
Davidson College
Denison University
Duke University
Emory University
Georgetown University
Grinnell College
Hamilton College
Haverford College
Johns Hopkins University
Knox College
Lawrence University
Middlebury College
Northwestern University
Pomona College
Rice University
Stanford University
Swarthmore College
University of Chicago
University of Miami
University of Notre Dame
University of Pennsylvania
University of Richmond
University of Rochester
University of Southern California
University of Virginia
Vassar College
Vanderbilt University
Wake Forest University
Wellesley College
Wesleyan University
Williams College</p>

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<p>It’s not just the general demographics that are fueling this, at least in the case of Penn (and probably Duke and a few others). At Penn, there has been a significant geographic expansion in recruiting–and resultant applicant base–both domestically and internationally, which has greatly expanded Penn’s appeal beyond the regions from which it drew heavily in past decades. For example, in this year alone, the number of applications to Penn from the Southeast and parts of the Midwest increased by over 20%, and applications from California increased by 15 percent, while the overall increase was 14%:</p>

<p>[Total</a> applications rise 14 percent | The Daily Pennsylvanian](<a href=“http://www.thedp.com/article/total-applications-rise-14-percent]Total”>http://www.thedp.com/article/total-applications-rise-14-percent)</p>

<p>Also, as indicated by the article that started this thread, California has become the state with the most applicants to Penn (more than 4,000, or 13% of the total). And I know that over the past year, Penn officials–including the Dean of Admissions–have toured cities in India and China to spread the gospel of Penn far and wide. As I indicated above, I’m sure other top schools are pursuing similar strategies.</p>

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<p>

And Donald Trump is the Messiah?</p>

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<p>Brown & Yale have been recruting in China, too.</p>

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<p>

Just for that, YOU’RE FIRED.</p>

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<p>^ Haha! Marketing: “It’s a good thing.” ™</p>