Ivy League admissions rates see general increase

Penn accepted a higher percentage of applicants this year for the Class of 2008 than most of its Ivy League counterparts.

The total percentage of applicants accepted at Penn was 21 percent. Only Cornell registered a higher admissions rate, admitting 28.7 percent of the 20,800 applications received.

Yale University registered the lowest rate of admissions for the Class of 2008, only admitting 9.9 percent of applicants, 1,950 students in total. For Yale, this year's decision marked a record low in rate of admissions from a record-high number of applicants, with a total of 19,674 students applying.

"It was our most competitive admissions cycle," Yale Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Richard Shaw said in a press release. "The quality of the applicants was outstanding."

However, most of Penn's peer institutions reported increases in the overall rate of acceptance from last year's numbers.

While Harvard reported an admittance rate of 10.3 percent with 2,029 students admitted, this was an increase from their record low of 9.8 last year.

For the first time in history, Harvard admitted more women than men to the Class of 2008, by a small margin of 1,016 women admitted to 1,013 men.

Princeton also experienced a higher acceptance rate than last year, admitting 1,631 students for the Class of 2008.

This represents an admissions rate of 11.9 percent, up from last year's 9.9 percent.

Brown University reported a slight increase in total number of applications this year and admitted 2,412 students, an admissions rate of 15.8 percent, nearly a point increase from 14.9 percent in 2003.

Columbia saw its rate of admissions fall to 10.5 percent of applicants accepted for a total of 1,590 students, a slight decrease from last year's rate of 10.8 percent. The decrease in rate of admissions came on the heels of an increase in total admissions from 2003.

Rounding out the Ivy League, Dartmouth College accepted 2,143 students to the Class of 2008, reporting an admissions rate of 18.3 percent, up from 17.5 percent last year.

Like Penn, the rest of the Ivy League schools saw increases in average SAT scores across the board. Dartmouth reported a jump of 15 points in combined scores from the previous year, with an average of 1457.

Many Ivies also reported increases in the number of minority applicants admitted. According to a press release, Harvard set records for percentages of blacks and Latinos admitted. Cornell reported that 33 percent of those students admitted identify themselves as students of color.

Students from all 50 states were represented in the pool of students admitted for every Ivy school, as well as a plethora of countries from six continents.

Universities are now concentrating on drawing in their accepted students for a greater yield percentage.

Accepted students have been attending Penn Preview Days this week, and they will continue into next week as well. The program consists of activities aimed at encouraging accepted students to matriculate at Penn.

Students have until May to decide which college will be receiving their acceptance to the Class of 2008.

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