Yale received an all-time high of 29,790 applications total for the class of 2017, marking a 3 percent increase over last year’s total of 28,977 applications.
Yale expects to admit roughly 2,000 students from the applicant pool — about the same total as last year, according to Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeffrey Brenzel. Due to the increased number of applications, Yale’s acceptance rate for the class of 2017 is expected to drop “a bit below” last year’s 7.1 percent acceptance rate, Brenzel said in a release this afternoon.
Brenzel added that he believes the year-to-year fluctuations in total application numbers “have little meaning in themselves,” because increases or decreases in the numbers can reflect anything from changes in a school’s promotional strategy to the varied interests of applicants within a particular year.
“The scores and grades of our applicants, our admitted students and the students who accept our offers all reflect our consistent practice over time – they have averaged the highest of any college’s in the nation,” he said.
From the early round alone this fall, Yale received 4,520 applications and accepted 649, a 14.4 percent acceptance rate.
Columbia announced last week that it received 33,460 applications, while Dartmouth said it received 22,400 applications.