This year's early game

Colleges & Universities A-Z Dartmouth College
1

<p>I heard that Harvard and Princeton will join in the early game this year.
Do you think it affects ED competition for Dartmouth?
What do you think about the assumption that the students seeking top-tier will perhaps lose their interests in Dartmouth in the early application this year? I want to ask your prediction..</p>

2

<p>Game theory experts may be the most qualified to weigh in on this question. You and everyone else are trying to understand what everyone else will do.</p>

<p>It’s hard to isolate variables to predict what effect any of them will have on the number of applications. There are changes each year. Here are some recent examples:

  1. Dartmouth reintroduced loans in their fin aid packages starting with the class of '15. One might think that a less generous fin aid policy might result in fewer applications. However, ED & RD applications went up.
  2. ED applications to Dartmouth went up 12% this year. What caused that? It might be the general admissions paranoia, but if a factor or combination of factors can’t be identified how one predict what will happen next fall when H&P accept ED applications.
  3. Dartmouth & Penn saw double-digit increases in ED applications last fall; Brown & Cornell saw ED applications decline 3%-4%.</p>

<p>After watching college admissions for the last 5 years I don’t think it’s possible to predict changes in the number of applicants year to year at any particular college. I think the best assumption is that next year will be fairly similar to this year, despite bad economy or a record number of HS grads or ease of Common Application submission or changes in ED policies.</p>