University makes day of 760 early decision applicants

When the University's admissions office sent out the envelopes in December, there were 760 fat ones in the pile. Of 1,385 early decision applicants this fall -- a pool that was slightly smaller than last year -- the University accepted 760 students, 30 more than last year, Admissions Dean Lee Stetson said last week. Stetson said the slightly increased number of admitted applicants for the class of 1997 is evidence of the "stronger quality of the [early decision applicant] pool." The students accepted early compose about 30 percent of the incoming freshman class. "The academic quality for this early decision class is our strongest ever," Stetson said, adding that this year's average SAT score is 1280, 20 points higher than last year's average. Despite demographic studies indicating a "shrinking pool [of 18 year olds] for two more years," Stetson said, this year's statistics show that show the University is "buck[ing] the trend." The number of accepted applicants rose from 456 last year to 480 this year for the College, and from 158 to 171 for the Wharton School. Meanwhile, the number of admitted applicants decreased slightly for the Engineering School from 84 to 78 and the Nursing School from 32 to 31. Among the minority applicants accepted early, Stetson said the University admitted 22 blacks this year -- seven fewer than last year -- 121 Asian-Americans, 16 Hispanics and two Native Americans. The number of women admitted has increased from 318 last year to 349 this year, making up 46 percent of this year's early decision class. Stetson attributed part of this rise to greater numbers of women entering the fields of engineering and business. Some Ivy League schools, like the University, have had continued success with early decision programs, while others have seen their numbers drop recently. At Yale University, early applications have been declining steadily for the last few years. This year there were 1,413 applicants with 486 admitted, down from 1,607 applicants and 544 accepted last year, Yale officials said. Richard Shaw, Yale's dean of admissions, attributed this trend to various factors. He said that "negative" press coverage of the "restructuring" of their "fiscal issues" last year may have unfavorably influenced people's perceptions of Yale. He added that Yale's numbers may be a result of the decision by more applicants to avoid "lock[ing] in" to a school early in order to fully explore all their financial aid alternatives. Slightly smaller numbers also marked Cornell University' early admissions program this year. Linda Mallett, senior associate director of admissions at Cornell, echoed Shaw in speculating that the decrease may be the result of applicants' growing concern over college costs at elite universities. At Dartmouth College, there were 1,003 applicants this year, down from 1,110 last year. Dartmouth's admitted early applicants decreased from 328 last year to 299 for the class of 1997. Associate director of admissions Paul Killebrew said that the number of early decision applicants has remained "fairly steady" in recent years. The numbers rose at Harvard University this year, with 2,352 applicants and 714 acceptances, compared with 2,214 applicants and 694 acceptances last year.