After completing its review of the second largest group of students to ever apply to the college, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions accepted roughly 6.49 percent of the 30,237 students who applied to Yale.

This is a slight uptick from last year’s rate of 6.26 percent. Although this year’s pool had 695 fewer applicants than last year, the University accepted 27 more students, offering admission to 1,962 students in total. This marks the fourth consecutive year that Yale’s acceptance rate has remained in the 6 percent range, after hovering around 7.5 percent from 2009 to 2011.

Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan said the University and its peer institutions have seen larger, stronger and more diverse applicant pools over the past five years.

“As we emerge from this incredibly challenging selection process, my colleagues and I are inspired by Yale’s extraordinary applicant pool,” Quinlan said in a statement. “The accomplishments and stories shared by many of the top secondary school students in the world were truly remarkable.”

Quinlan added that this year’s group of admitted students includes increased representation of virtually every underrepresented group in higher education, with students from 65 different countries and all 50 states.

Furthermore, 16.8 percent of this year’s admitted class are first-generation college students, up from 12.5 percent only two years ago.

Quinlan said he hopes to matriculate roughly 1,350 students for the class of 2019.

Although Quinlan expressed excitement in regards to this year’s group of admitted students, he acknowledged that the University was unable to accept a large number of talented applicants. However, Quinlan said, the University will be able to admit far more students with the opening of the two new residential colleges in 2017 — a very exciting prospect.

“This makes me more excited for the two new residential colleges, because there are so many students we’d love to admit, and will be able to in few years time,” Quinlan told the News.

He added that this year’s group of admits will be juniors when the two new colleges open, meaning some of these students will be able to move into the colleges.

Director of Admissions Margit Dahl ’75 said that although the number of applications to the University has dramatically increased since she began working for the Admissions Office several decades ago, she is struck by how little the review process in the committee room has changed during this time.

“It is still labor-intensive and incredibly thorough,” Dahl said. “We are also the only school I know of where faculty and deans are so involved in admissions committee meetings. This year 26 deans and 29 faculty members participated in committee.”

She added that participating deans and faculty members provide an important perspective in committee discussions.

Harvard, Princeton and Brown recorded all-time low acceptance rates this year, with Harvard admitting 5.3 percent of its applicants, and Princeton and Brown offering admission to 6.99 and 8.5 percent of their applicants, respectively. Columbia and Dartmouth also saw lower acceptance rates this year, accepting 6.1 and 10.3 percent of their applicants, respectively. The University of Pennsylvania’s acceptance rate held steady at 9.9 percent, the same acceptance rate UPenn recorded last year, while Cornell’s admissions rate increased to 14.9 percent.

Quinlan said the office now has the “fun, but challenging” task of convincing these highly qualified admits to choose Yale.

Director of Outreach and Recruitment Mark Dunn ’07 added that current Yale students are the most important recruitment tool available to the University, and that the entire office looks forward to working with various groups on campus to host Bulldog Days in April.

New admits interviewed said they are thrilled about their acceptance to the University. Three of four students interviewed said they plan on attending Bulldog Days.

“I sort of knew about the decision beforehand because I received a likely letter, but I’m still so excited to have been accepted and it’s just so incredible because Yale is such a cool place,” said Divya Gopinath, a high school senior from New York. “I know other people from my school who have gone there, and it’s an honor to have been accepted with them.”

Gopinath added that she is seriously considering both Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Carter Guensler, a high school senior from Atlanta who was admitted regular decision, said he is happy about being accepted to Yale — his dream school. However, he said, he does not think he can seriously consider Yale because he was not offered any financial aid. Guensler added that he was offered generous merit scholarships by schools such as Duke and Vanderbilt.

“As excited as I am about getting into my favorite college, I’m also very excited about not having to pay for college,” Guensler said.

Additionally, 1,097 students from this year’s pool were offered spots on the waitlist. Last year, 14 waitlisted students were eventually offered admission to the University. Quinlan said he hopes to “resolve the wait list as much as possible in the month of May.”

Admitted students must inform the University of their decisions by May 1.

This article has been updated to reflect the version published in print on April 1, 2015.

Correction: March 31

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the percentage of first-generation college students increased by 4.3 percent this year. In fact, 16.8 percent of this year’s class are first-generation college students, up from 12.5 percent two years ago.

TYLER FOGGATT