Yale admitted 753, or 16 percent, of its early applicants to the class of 2019 from a pool of 4,693. Just over half, 57 percent, were deferred for reconsideration in the spring, while 26 percent were denied admission and 1 percent withdrew or submitted incomplete applications.

This year’s early acceptance rate is not much higher than last year’s of 15.5 percent. Slightly fewer students applied early this year than last year.

Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan said this year’s early applicant pool was one of the most diverse pools the Office of Undergraduate Admissions has ever considered.

“We’re seeing more diversity in our early applicants, and we’re responding to that diversity by admitting a few more students in our early action rounds,” he said.

The University, which is aiming for a freshman class of about 1,360 students to enroll in the fall of 2015, plans to admit somewhere between 1,300 and 1,400 more students in the spring.

Mark Dunn, director of outreach and recruitment for the Admissions Office, said applications from international students and students who self-identify as members of minority racial/ethnic groups grew significantly in this year’s pool.

The Admissions Office has made great efforts to produce outreach messages for prospective students who self-identity as members of these groups, Dunn said. He added that Yale’s targeted campaigns to high-achieving, low-income students as well as the University’s long-standing partnership with QuestBridge have encouraged many students to take a closer look at Yale and its financial aid policies.

“Through our new video showcase of Yale’s uniquely vibrant cultural houses, the Multicultural Open House we hosted in October and other targeted messages, I think our team is doing a great job helping students from all backgrounds see that Yale is a place that celebrates diversity in every imaginable form,” Dunn said.

Forty of the admitted students were “matched” to the University through the QuestBridge National College Match program — the highest number of matches Yale has made since partnering with QuestBridge in 2007.

That number represents a 67 percent increase from last year’s figure of 24 students. The National College Match helps high-achieving, low-income students gain admission and full-ride scholarships to universities like Yale, Princeton and Columbia by allowing students to rank preferences from QuestBridge’s list of partner colleges, and apply to schools through a single application.

Students “match” to the school ranked highest on their list that also wants to admit them through the program, and are guaranteed scholarships covering 100 percent of their financial need. Applicants who neither match with Yale nor bind to another QuestBridge partner college are then transferred to Yale’s regular decision pool.

“This was the strongest group of QuestBridge finalists I have reviewed since beginning the QuestBridge partnership with Yale in 2007,” Quinlan said. “It is wonderful to be able to offer these 40 students admission to Yale and a financial aid award that does not require their parents to pay anything towards the entire cost of attendance.”

University President Peter Salovey made a commitment at the White House Summit on College Opportunity last January to increase the number of QuestBridge finalists enrolling at the University by 50 percent. While Yale has traditionally enrolled roughly 50 to 60 QuestBridge finalists each year, 80 QuestBridge finalists enrolled in the class of 2018. Twenty of these students were admitted through National College Match.

QuestBridge CEO and co-founder Ana McCullough said the organization is impressed by Yale’s commitment to recruiting students from all backgrounds, and the strides they’ve made in increasing the number of QuestBridge finalists enrolled at Yale.

She added that QuestBridge saw a 14 percent increase from last year in the total number of matches that were made across their 35 partner colleges.

“We were able to match just over 500 students nationally, which really symbolizes the commitment our colleges have towards increasing socio-economic diversity on their campuses,” she said.

Quinlan said the Admissions Office is looking forward to reviewing more applications from QuestBridge finalists during the regular decision round, and that the number of finalists enrolling as freshmen next year will most likely meet or exceed last year’s number of 80, which was a record-high for the University.

All other schools in the Ivy League have released their early acceptance decisions. Princeton and Brown both saw higher early acceptance rates this year, admitting 19.9 and 20 percent of applicants, respectively, while Harvard admitted 16.5 percent of its early applicants. Meanwhile, the early acceptance rates of Dartmouth and the University of Pennsylvania dropped to 26 and 24 percent, respectively, this year. Cornell and Columbia have released admissions decisions to their early applicants, but have not published figures.

Although students who apply to Yale early do not have a better chance of acceptance, Quinlan said, the admissions rate for the early applicant pool is typically higher than the regular decision pool because of the number of students applying with ties to the institution, such as recruited athletes or children of alumni. He added that students who have their applications ready by the early action deadline of Nov. 1 tend to have some of the highest credentials of any secondary school students in the world.

“The entire Admissions Office is looking forward to connecting with our Early Action and QuestBridge admitted students,” Dunn said. “Our admitted students are an amazing group of young people with much to contribute to Yale and much to gain from four years on Yale’s campus. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to help introduce these admitted students to the Yale experience over the next few months.”