Freshman matriculation rates up across Ivy League

In a fitting end to a year marked by nearly across-the-board application increases and tougher than ever competition, Ivy League admissions offices are reporting increases in their yields for the Class of 2002. Columbia University in New York City saw a 6 percent jump in their yield -- by far the biggest increase in the Ivies. This year, approximately 55 percent of the 1,742 students admitted to Columbia chose to matriculate, up from 49 percent of the 1,958 accepted last year. "We may have a little wait-list activity," said Columbia Undergraduate Admissions Director Eric Furda. "But we're not expecting all that much more." Dartmouth College and Harvard University tied for the second biggest increases in yield at 4 percent each. Karl Furstenburg, Dartmouth's dean of admissions, reported that 52 percent of the 2,176 students receiving acceptance letters this year have decided to attend the Hanover, N.H., college, up from 48 percent of the 2,235 offered admission in 1997. "We're very pleased that our yield is better this year," Furstenburg said. "And we're not taking anyone from the wait-list." And Harvard University also reported a 4 percent increase in the number of students electing to matriculate, although the Cambridge, Mass., school's yield is far higher than that of Dartmouth. David Evans, a senior admissions officer at Harvard, said 80 percent of the 2,073 students accepted this year have promised to enroll, up from 76 percent of the 2,153 students admitted last year. Evans also noted that Harvard will probably not accept anyone from the wait-list. Brown University saw a 3 percent increase in its yield this year, according to the admissions office at the Providence, R.I. college. Of the 2,610 students offered admission to Brown's class of 2002, 56 percent have accepted, up from 53 percent of last year's admitted pool of 2,674. And according to the admissions office, no additional students will be accepted from the wait-list. There was another tie between Penn and Cornell, with both universities reporting a 1 percent increase in students choosing to matriculate, although Penn's overall yield is a bit higher. As of last Thursday, approximately 50 percent of the 4,837 students offered admission to Penn had chosen to attend, and according to Admissions Dean Lee Stetson, wait-list activity is not expected. Last year, 49 percent of the 4,793 students admitted elected to matriculate. And the Cornell admissions office also saw a 1 percent increase in their yield with 47 percent of the 6,838 students admitted promising to attend. Last year, 46 percent of the 6,715 admitted pool chose to enroll at the Ithaca, N.Y., university. Cornell admissions officials noted that they are still waiting to hear from a few students who were granted extensions due to financial aid decisions. However, they also said no further wait-list activity is expected as the number of students that decided to attend was higher than expected. And Margaret Dahl, director of undergraduate admission at Yale University, reported a current yield increase of only about .3 percent for the New Haven, Conn., school. Approximately 1,276 of the 2,083 students accepted this year have chosen to attend, up only slightly from the 1,307 out of 2,144 that chose to matriculate last year. Dahl did note, however, that because Yale's target class size is approximately 1,300, some wait-list acceptances are likely, which will bring the yield up to 62 percent -- representing a full 1 percent increase from last year. Princeton Dean of Admissions Fred Hargadon did not return repeated phone calls requesting matriculation rates. Last year, 66 percent of the 1,723 students offered admission to the New Jersey school chose to matriculate.