Yale received a record number of applications during this admissions cycle, with 36,829 students vying for a spot in the class of 2023.
The new record — previously held by last year’s cycle, which garnered 35,305 applications — marks a 4.3 percent increase in the number of applicants. Last year, the number of applicants rose by 7.3 percent, and the number has been steadily going up since the application cycle for the class of 2019. The rise in applications comes against the backdrop of the addition of two new residential colleges — Pauli Murray and Benjamin Franklin — which allows for incoming first-year classes to be around 1,550 people, as opposed to the previous 1,350. The class of 2023 will be the third class to enter Yale since the new colleges opened.
“I am pleased that the number of students applying to Yale has increased again, and that many of the largest increases have come from populations that have been historically underrepresented at selective universities like Yale,” said Director of Outreach and Communications Mark Dunn. “The opening of Pauli Murray and Benjamin Franklin colleges have allowed us to admit and enroll more students, which has, I believe, inspired more prospective students to apply.”
According to the Admissions Office website, applicants will be notified of the decision on their applications online by April 1. Admitted students in both the early action and regular decision pools will have until May 1 to accept their offer.
The Admissions Office has seen a rapid increase of applications over the past six years. Between the 2012–13 admissions cycle and today, the number of applications received by Yale College has increased by 24 percent. In that same period, applications from U.S. citizens or permanent residents who identify as a member of a racial minority or ethnic group have risen by 51 percent. Applications from first-generation college students have increased by 42 percent.
In an email to the News, Dunn wrote that in that same time period, the office of admissions has seen a 110 percent jump of applications from students “living in lower-income census tracts.”
“This is especially exciting given that the Admissions Office has targeted students living in these areas with our direct mail campaign highlighting affordability since 2013,” he wrote.
Still, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid Jeremiah Quinlan told the News that the office “never attempt[s] to attribute direct cause and effect relationships between specific [outreach] strategies and the applicant pool.” He also mentioned that the Admissions Office does not evaluate the success of its outreach efforts “simply by the number of applicants” who apply to Yale.
“Quality matters much more to the admissions committee than quantity,” he said.
In mid-December, Yale College admitted 794 students out of a record 6,020 early action applicants to the class of 2023.
Skakel McCooey | skakel.mccooey@yale.edu