Early admit numbers rise for Penn and four Ivy peers

High schoolers are making greater use of the early admissions process for Ivy League schools, the latest data show.

Attracted by the combination of earlier notification and higher admission rates that accompany the admission policy, the numbers of early decision applicants for the Class of 2006 have increased across most of the Ivy League.

According to the most recent data available, at least five of the Ivies experienced an increase in early decision applications this year.

Yale University exhibited the sharpest increase among the Ivies, with early applications increasing by 17 percent. This comes on the heels of a 20 percent increase in applications last year.

While Yale did not return repeated phone calls, the Yale Daily News reported Friday that the school had received around 2,100 applications, up from 1,800 last year.

Yale announced a $7.5 million increase in its financial aid budget earlier this year, allowing the school to give out more grants. Last year, the school announced that they would admit international students without respect to financial aid. Most schools, including Penn, are not need-blind in the case of international students.

According to Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson, Penn applications increased from 2,851 last year to 3,053 this year, a 7.1 percent increase.

Brown University exhibited the sharpest decrease, with applications declining from 5,251 last year to 1,917 this year.

However, according to Brown Director of Admissions Michael Goldberger, the 63 percent decline is not a fair comparison because of changes in their admissions policy. This year, Brown moved to an early decision program, requiring all accepted students to matriculate.

Previously, Brown had offered early action, which does not require students to commit if accepted.

The change left Harvard University as the only school in the Ivy League to offer an early action program.

Harvard had a marginal increase this year, with 6,128 total early action applications, up from 6,096 last year.

Cornell University Associate Provost of Admissions and Enrollment Doris Davis said that the school received 2,671 applications this year compared to 2,589 last year, representing an increase of 3.2 percent.

Columbia University exhibited similar increases. The number of applications to the school rose from 1,498 last year to 1,598 this year, an increase of 6.5 percent.

Dartmouth University, however, exhibited a slight 1 percent decrease. Officials from the Dean of Admissions' office said that 1,091 students applied early decision, down from 1,102 last year.

Princeton University officials did not return repeated calls for comment. Princeton had 1,850 early decision applicants last year.

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