Application numbers rise across Ivies

At most colleges and universities across the country, admissions deadlines have long passed and all applications for the Class of 2007 are in. While Penn saw a comparable number of applicants to last year's pool, some of its peers experienced significant changes. Penn received a total of 18,797 applications, an increase of less than 1 percent over last year's 18,784. Other Ivies saw larger increases, with Dartmouth College and Yale University each experiencing more than a 12 percent rise in total applicants. In contrast, Cornell University's applicant pool fell by 5 percent, from 21,431 applications last year to 20,426. Doris Davis, Cornell's associate provost for admissions and enrollment, said she was unable to speculate about the reasons behind the drop in applications. "Later this spring, we will discuss the application numbers in more detail to better understand why the decrease occurred," Davis said. Dartmouth saw a major increase in its numbers this year, receiving 11,700 applications, an increase of about 13 percent over last year's 10,143 applications. Yale's applicant pool grew at a similar rate, showing a 12.3 percent increase in applications this year with a record-high 17,350 applications, the Yale Daily News reported. Penn Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson noted Yale's use of the Common Application, an alternative application accepted by hundreds of colleges and universities across the country, as a factor in its application increases. But despite the possibility that adopting this application increases numbers, he said Penn does not plan to accept the Common Application in coming years. "There are only a few schools using the common app[lication] that we compete with," Stetson said. "We like our application to be unique and set us apart from other schools." Harvard University also saw a rise in applications for the 12th time in 13 years. Harvard experienced a 6.7 percent increase in applications, receiving a total of 20,918, up from 19,609 last year. Stetson cited a change in Harvard's admissions policy as one reason for the increase it saw in applications. This year's applicants were the first to be allowed to apply to Harvard's early action program in addition to a binding early decision program at another college or university. But officials at Harvard have attributed the increase to a number of other factors. Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William Fitzsimmons said in a release that while Harvard historically attracts large numbers of students, "it is our recently enhanced financial aid program that makes it possible for the large majority of them to apply." Columbia University saw increases in applications to both Columbia College and the Fu Foundation School for Engineering and Applied Science. Columbia College experienced a 3 percent increase, receiving a total of 14,562 applications, and its engineering school received 2,182, a 7 percent increase over last year, the Columbia Spectator reported. Brown University saw a more modest increase of approximately 3 percent. According to Admissions Dean Michael Goldberger, the university received a total of 15,084 applications this year, a rise over last year's 14,600. He added that Brown also saw an increase in its minority applicants and in the number of students applying for financial aid, perhaps due to the university's announcement of a need-blind admissions policy this year. Princeton University has not yet released its application numbers, according to media relations representative Eric Quinones.