Early admit rate increases slightly

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Yale admitted 14.5 percent of its early action applicants for the class of 2015, a slight increase from last year’s rate of 13.9 percent, according to Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeffrey Brenzel.

“Our early applicant pool this year showed another significant rise in numbers and strength with respect to top minority students and top science and engineering candidates, groups we have been especially happy to see responding to our focused recruiting,” Brenzel said in an e-mail. “These students were joined by thousands of the most high achieving students in the world of every other background and interest as well.”

Of 5,257 early applicants, 761 were notified of their acceptances this evening. 1,497 students who applied early were denied admission, while 2,952 were deferred to the regular decision round. This 56.2 percent deferral rate is approximately a 5 percent increase from last year.

Brenzel said Yale Admissions expects to make 1,300 additional offers of admission in the spring, aiming at 1,350 students for the class of 2015.

Other Ivy League schools that have released their early admissions decisions include Brown, Dartmouth, the University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell. Brown admitted just under 20 percent of its early applicant pool, a 3 percent decrease from last year, according to the Brown Daily Herald. Dartmouth admitted 4 percent fewer early applicants than it did last year according to the The Dartmouth, with 25.5 percent acceptance for the class of 2015. Penn admitted 26 percent of its early applicant pool, a 5 percent decrease from last year, According to the Daily Pennsyvanian.

Though the Cornell Daily Sun reported that early applicants would be notified of their admissions status on December 7, it has not yet reported Cornell’s early decision numbers. Likewise, The Columbia Spectator has not yet published statistics, though it reported that applicants would receive news by mid-December.

Stanford saw a small decrease in early admit rate, falling from 13.5 percent last year to 12.7 percent this year.

“As always, we only accepted students that we were certain we would also accept in the spring, and the students we deferred are strong candidates who will have chances of admission in the spring similar to those of our regular decision applicants,” Brenzel said in an e-mail.

Jon Reider, the director of college counseling at San Francisco University High School in San Francisco, Cali., and Alice Kleeman, college and career advisor at the Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, Cali., said they did not think the change in Yale’s early acceptance rate was significant. But, Kleeman said, it might impact future college applicants’ decisions to apply to Yale.

“High school students may say, ‘OK, I’ve got a better shot at Yale than I thought I had’…on the other hand, it could go the other way and they may devalue Yale because it seems less selective,” said Kleeman. She added that she does not think these are reasonable reactions to a very small change, but that high school students and parents do not always have the most rational perspective on news like this.

Sarah Swong, a senior at the Horace Mann School in the Bronx, was thrilled to find out she had been accepted to Yale. Swong said she loves Yale, but she is still waiting to hear back about an application submitted to another school.

“I’m really feeling [Yale] right now,” Swong said. “I’m still going to come to Bulldog Days and see.”

Early applicants who were deferred and students who apply regular to Yale will be notified of their admissions decisions on April 1.

Correction: December 16, 2010

An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that Dartmouth admitted 4 percent more early applicants than it did last year. Dartmouth in fact admitted 4 percent fewer. Additionally, the University of Pennsylvania had a 5 percent decrease instead of rise opposed to last year.