Ivy League Admission Statistics for Class of 2008
The biggest news in the Ivies for the 2004 season was the sizeable drop in admission rates at Yale and Stanford. It’s no coincidence that both of these schools changed their early admission policies from early decision (binding) to early action (non-binding). Since many students found themselves able to apply to Yale or Stanford early action without making a commitment (and therefore reserving the right to collect acceptance letters from schools like Harvard and Princeton during the regular admission round), they made the choice to apply early driving up both schools’ numbers.
Yale broke records by receiving close to 20,000 applications, accepting a mere 9.9% of them: 1950 students. As a result of Yale’s and Stanford’s rise in early applications, Harvard’s and Princeton’s number of applicants dropped slightly and they were able to accept a few more students: Harvard’s admission rate was 10.3% (up from their lowest ever of 9.8% the year before) while Princeton’s admission rate was 11.9%, (up slightly from 9.9% the year before). In other Ivy news, Dartmouth experienced a big rise in average SAT scores: the average verbal jumped from a 717 to a 726 while the average math score jumped from 725 to 731. They accepted 18.3% of their applicants, up from 17.5% the year before. Brown experienced a slight overall increase in the number of applications admitting 15.8% (up from 14.9% the year before), Columbia was slightly more selective accepting 10.5% (down from 10.8% the year before). Penn’s acceptance rate was 21% and Cornell’s was 28.7%, the highest in the Ivy League.
Brown University Admissions Statistics Class of 2008
Early Action
Brown accepted 538 of 1920 early applicants for an acceptance rate of 28%.
Regular Decision/Overall
For regular decision. Brown accepted 14% of its applicants making the overall acceptance rate 15.8%
Cornell University’s Admissions Statistics Class of 2008
Cornell reports that its early decision acceptance rate is not very different from its regular decision rate. In Cornell’s case, students should compare the acceptance rates at the particular college to which they are applying. Most people think of the Arts and Sciences when they mention Cornell, but there is also the School of Engineering, Human Ecology, Agriculture and Life Sciences, etc… Cornell’s overall admit rate was 28.7% for the College of Arts and Sciences.
Dartmouth College’s Admissions Statistics Class of 2008
Early Decision
Dartmouth accepted 30% of the 1278 early applicants representing 35% of the class.
Unlike most of the Ivies, Dartmouth now accepts roughly a third of its early class, defers a third and rejects a third.
Regular Decision/Overall
Dartmouth accepted 16.8% of the 10,000 regular applicants, dropping the overall acceptance rate to a very low 18.3%.
Harvard Admissions Statistics, Class of 2008
Early Action
(Single action early action, meaning if you apply early action to Harvard, you cannot apply to any other schools under other early programs.)
906 students accepted out of roughly 4000, 23% acceptance rate. The majority of the rest were deferred, although 165 students were rejected outright.
Applications were down more than 47% thanks to the changes in early policies at Yale and Stanford.
Regular Decision/Overall
Of almost 20,000 total applicants, Harvard accepted 2029 or 9.7% regular decision. The overall admission rate for both
early and regular was 10.3%.
Penn – University of Pennsylvania’s Admissions Statistics Class of 2008
Early Decision
Penn does not release exact early decision numbers for its various schools which include the College of Arts and Sciences, The School of Engineering, The Wharton School, The Nursing School and several joint programs like the Jerome Fisher School that combines business and engineering.
Regular Decision
The regular decision acceptance rate at the College of Arts and Sciences was 17%, 21% overall.
Princeton Admissions Statistics Class of 2008
Early Decision
32% of the 1815 students who applied were accepted early decision to Princeton. That is a much higher acceptance rate than usual since Princeton’s numbers dropped thanks to the rise at Yale and Stanford. Close to half of the incoming class positions were filled by early acceptances.
Regular Decision/Overall
Because so many spaces were taken up with early decision acceptances, the regular decision acceptance rate was only 8.8% while the overall acceptance rate was 11.9%.
Yale Admissions Statistics, Class of 2008
Early Action
(Single action early action, meaning if you apply early action to Yale, you cannot apply to any other schools under other early programs.)
Applicants for early action were up an astounding 52.4% from last year because of the switch from early decision to early action (non-binding). Close to 4000 applied, only 670 were accepted for a 16.8% acceptance rate.
Regular Decision/Overall
Only 9.9% overall of the roughly 20,000 applicants were accepted because of the large rise in early applicants.
Statistics by Christian Termont at Economics of Education Research Associates
Admission Statistics for Ivy League & Other Top Colleges
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