<p>"GU Sees Slight Decrease in Applications</p>
<p>While many universities across the country are receiving more applications than ever before, undergraduate applications to Georgetown dropped slightly this year, due to a decrease in applicants to the McDonough School of Business.</p>
<p>The number of students who applied this year for undergraduate admission decreased slightly compared to last years numbers, according to recently released figures in the Georgetown Alumni Admissions Program Spring 2009 newsletter. There were 18,610 applicants to the class of 2013, a decrease of 85 students from last year.</p>
<p>Acceptance rates remained relatively consistent with last years 18 percent. Overall, 18.7 percent of applicants received offers of admission this year. The College was most selective, with an 18 percent acceptance rate, followed by the School of Foreign Service, which accepted 19 percent of applicants. The MSB and the School of Nursing and Health Studies each accepted 20 percent of applicants.</p>
<p>The decrease in applications was primarily due to a nearly 10 percent drop in the number of students applying to the MSB. The MSB saw a decline of more than 300 applications from a peak last year of 3,178. All other undergraduate schools at Georgetown saw an increase in the number of applicants.</p>
<p>Charles Deacon, dean of undergraduate admissions, said that the drop in applicants to the MSB is not surprising.</p>
<p>Its almost always predictable that external events would influence how people apply, he said.</p>
<p>Questions of how the economy might affect yield, the number of admitted students who decide to attend, remained a great concern, according to Deacon. He said that about 65 percent of this years admitted students had indicated that they were applying for financial aid, an increase of 5 percent compared with last year. He said that the rate of matriculation for students who did apply for aid is expected to be about 10 percent lower than the rate for students who did not.</p>
<p>Deacon said as a result, the number of students matriculating next fall could decrease overall. He said that even families that do not qualify for financial aid and would normally have had the means to send their children to Georgetown might not be able to afford the price tag this year.</p>
<p>Either way, we have two different threats and how its going to work out, we dont know, he said.</p>
<p>The AAP newsletter stated that yield declined last year and is still a concern for this upcoming year.</p>
<p>Georgetown maintains a need-blind admissions policy and promises to meet 100 percent of demonstrated financial need. Deacon said that all an admissions officer is aware of regarding applicants financial situations is simply whether or not they are applying for financial aid, and what can be guessed from personal information given in the application.
Its a bedrock principle, Deacon said, speaking of the universitys need-blind commitment. The admitted group looked exactly the same, [in terms of students financial situations], as the overall applicant pool.</p>
<p>The applicant pool also remained very competitive. Only 24 percent of students in the top 10 percent of their high school class were admitted, while 57 percent of graduating valedictorians and 67 percent of those with a 1600 score on the critical reading and math sections of the SAT were offered spots at the university.</p>
<p>In contrast to Georgetown, many universities saw unprecedented increases in applicant volume and selectivity rates this year. Harvard Universitys admissions rate was down from last years figure of 7.9 percent to a new low of 7 percent, according to a Harvard University press release. The number of students who applied to Harvard increased to a record 29,112, up over 1,600 applications from the previous year.</p>
<p>Stanford University also experienced its most competitive year, with 7.6 percent of the record 30,428 applications receiving admittance, according to an April 1 Stanford University news release.</p>
<p>Duke University also was very selective in its admissions process this year, with a record low 17 percent of students receiving admittance, according to Duke Today.</p>
<p>Christina Costa from Irvington High School in Westchester, N.Y., said she was accepted to a number of schools, including Harvard, but decided to go to Georgetown.
Georgetown seemed to have the best of everything, Costa said.</p>
<p>After applying in the fall, she received a letter in October guaranteeing her a 95 percent chance of acceptance but did not receive the official letter until just recently. She said she was attracted to Georgetown in large part because of what she described as the strong student spirit, which exists amid academic intensity. Costa, a successful high school swimmer, plans to join the Georgetown swim team in the fall.</p>
<p>Andy Blake of Gardner High School in Gardner, Mass, said that he was not expecting to get into Georgetown. The fact that his acceptance letter from Georgetown came in a small envelope this year only seemed to confirm his expectation, until he opened it.</p>
<p>Originally I wasnt going to apply to Georgetown because I wasnt expecting to get in, he said.</p>
<p>He added that Georgetowns location drew him to apply.</p>
<p>Georgetowns connection with D.C. is unbelievable to me, he said.
Blake is currently deciding between Georgetown and Boston College.
Deacon said that the diversity of admitted students remained nearly the same as that of last year. He said about 9 to 10 percent of admitted students are African American, about the same number are Latino and around 15 percent are of Asian descent. California stood as the state with the largest number of accepted students, he said.</p>
<p>Regarding Georgetowns standing in college rankings, Deacon said that he does not see any immediate shift coming, but there could be potential in the future.</p>
<p>I would assume that theres not going to be any great change this year, but I think the changes could begin to emerge in the next few years, he said."</p>
<p>GU</a> Sees Slight Decrease in Applications | The Hoya</p>