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Ivy League Admission Statistics for Class of 2016

Statistics for the Class of 2016

Preliminary Results – Early Action and Early Decision – Entering Fall 2012

Ivy League – Early Action and Early Decision

Early Rounds 2016 2015 2014
Admit Applied % Admit Applied % Admit Applied %
Brown ED 556 2,919 19.05 577 2,796 20.64 567 2,847 19.92
Columbia ED 605 3,088 19.59 632 3,229 19.57 631 2,995 21.07
Cornell ED 1,171 3,609 32.45 1,215 3,456 35.16 1,176 3,594 32.72
Dartmouth ED 465 1,800 25.83 444 1,754 25.31 461 1,594 28.92
Harvard REA 772 4,231 18.25 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00
Penn ED 1,148 4,526 25.36 1,192 4,557 26.16 1,319 3,851 34.25
Princeton REA 726 3,476 20.89 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00
Yale REA 675 4,304 15.68 761 5,257 14.48 730 5,235 13.94
Total Ivies 6,118 27,953 21.89 4,821 21,049 22.90 4,884 20,116 24.28

Brown accepted 556 of the 2,919 applications received for the class of 2016. The 2,796 applications for early decision this year represent a slight increase from last year’s 2,796.

Columbia received 5.68 percent fewer applications with 3,088 early applications compared to 3,229 last year. The admission rate remained similar as Columbia admitted 605 students.

Cornell reported a three percent decrease in the number of early decision applicants with 3,456 applications for the Class of 2015, as opposed to the 3,594 applications that were reviewed in December 2009. In the latest early decision cycle, Cornell admitted 1,215 students, slightly more than the 1,176 granted admission last year.

Dartmouth received 1,800 Early Decision applications for the Class of 2016. This represents a small increase over the Early Decision applications for the Class of 2015. Dartmouth accepted 465 ED applications, 21 more than last year’s 444 students.  The 465 students will compose approximately 40 percent of the Class of 2016 estimated at 1110 students.

Harvard accepted 18 percent of the 4,231 early applicants to the Class of 2016. These 772 students mark the first group to be admitted early since the College eliminated its early admission process four-years ago. The Office of Admissions deferred 2,838 applicants, roughly two-thirds of applicants, to be considered in the regular application pool and rejected 546 students.

Penn received 4,526 early decision applications for the Class of 2016 and reported a slight decrease from last year’s 4,557 early decision applications. Penn admitted 1,148 students under the Early Decision program for a record low 25% admit rate.

Princeton, for the is the first year since 2006, offered an early application round and admitted 726 out of the 3,476 candidates who applied last fall through single-choice early action.

Yale reported a total of 4,304 applications, a substantial decrease from last year’s 5,257 applications for its SCEA program. The school offered admission to 675 applicants for its Class of 2016.  The 15.7 percent early acceptance rate marks an increase from last year’s 14.5 percent early admission rate and the 13.9 percent acceptance rate for the class of 2014.

Stanford and MIT – Early Action

Early Rounds 2016 2015 2014
Admit Applied % Admit Applied % Admit Applied %
Stanford SCEA 755 5,880 12.84 754 5,929 12.72 753 5,566 13.53
MIT EA 680 6,008 11.32 772 6,405 12.05 590 5,684 10.38
Total 1,435 11,888 12.07 1,526 12,334 12.37 1,343 11,250 11.94

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology received 6.008 early action applications (down from the 6,405 received last year) and accepted 680 students for an acceptance rate of 11.32%.

Stanford accepted 12.84% percent of its SCEA pool by admitting 755 out of 5,880. Last year, Stanford admitted 754 students out of 5,929 applicants.

More Selective Schools – Early Action and Early Decision

Early 2016 2015 2014
Admit Applied % Admit Applied % Admit Applied %
Chicago EA 1,532 8,698 17.61 1,400 6,960 20.11 1,676 5,855 28.63
Duke ED 648 2,641 24.54 645 2,287 28.20 602 1,924 31.29
Georgetown EA 1,012 6,730 15.04 1,122 6,654 16.86 1,160 6,105 19.00
Northwestern 804 2,450 32.82 715 2,127 33.62 618 1,776 34.80
J. Hopkins ED 561 1,459 38.45 518 1,330 38.95 493 1,155 42.68

The University of Chicago received 8,698 early-action applications to the College, a dramatic increase from the previous year when 6,960 applications were received.  Despite an estimated total class of 1,350 students, Chicago offered admission to 1,532 students under its Early Admission non-binding program.

Duke reported that 2,641 students applied under its Early Decision program, an increase over the 2,287 who applied early in the prior year. Out of the 2,641 who completed their applications, 648 were offered admission to the Class of 2016. Last year, the university accepted 645 students through Early Decision. This year’s acceptance rate is a record low for Duke, as the number dips below 25 percent. Students admitted through Early Decision this year will represent 38 percent of next fall’s incoming class, which is expected to include 1,705 students.

Johns Hopkins reported that 1,459 applied for the Class of 2016. This represents an increase of 119 applications from last year.  561 applicants will be the first students welcomed into the Class of 2016.

Georgetown received 6,730 applications and admitted 1,012 students for an admission ratio of 15%. Last year, Georgetown received 6,654 applications and admitted 1,122 students for an admission ratio of 17%.

Northwestern University reported 2,450 applications and admitted 804 students to its Class of 2016. In 2011, Northwestern had 2,127 applications and admitted 715 students to its Class of 2015.

Liberal Arts Colleges – Early Decision – ED1 Only

Class 2016 Early LAC Admit Applied %
Barnard 252 562 44.84%
Bowdoin 171 594 28.79%
Colgate 225 398 56.53%
Davidson 194 371 52.29%
Hamilton 180 413 43.58%
Kenyon 136 207 65.70%
Middlebury 270 645 41.86%
Oberlin 161 241 66.80%
Pomona 75 297 25.25%
Scripps 54 99 54.55%
Was Lee 192 443 43.34%
Williams 239 550 43.45%

Expected Percentage of Early Admissions in the Class of 2016

The tables below present the percentage of early applicants in the projected enrollment for the Class of 2016.

Early Ivies 2016
Admit Enroll Est % Early
Brown ED 556 1,501 37.04
Columbia ED 605 1,391 43.49
Cornell ED 1,171 3,178 36.85
Dartmouth ED 465 1,110 41.89
Harvard SCEA 772 1,670 46.23
Penn ED 1,148 2,410 47.63
Princeton SCEA 726 1,312 55.34
Yale SCEA 675 1,305 51.72
Total Ivies 6,118 13,877 44.09
Stanford SCEA 755 1,672 45.16
MIT EA* 680 1,067 63.73
Total 1,435 2,739 52.39
Total Ivies Plus 7,553 16,616 45.46
Selective ED 2016
Admit Enroll Est % Early
Duke ED 648 1,705 38.01
Northwestern ED 804 2,078 38.69
J. Hopkins ED 561 1,241 45.21

It should be noted that, because of the non-binding nature of regular Early Admission, the numbers for schools such as Chicago, Georgetown, or MIT should not be compared to schools with Early Decisions and Restricted and Single Choice Early Admissions.

Selective EA 2016
Admit Enroll Est % Early
Chicago EA* 1,532 1,350 113.48
Georgetown EA* 1,012 1,570 64.46

Volume of Applications and Changes – Early and Regular Decision – Class 2016

In the past six years, applications to the eight Ivy League schools plus MIT and Stanford increased from slightly above 200,000 applications to almost 300,000 early and regular applications, for a compound increase of more than 40 percent.

Ivy League, Stanford and MIT – 6 Years Trends

For the first time in the past six years, the total number of applications to the eight Ivy League schools plus MIT and Stanford decreased from the prior year.

Applications went down substantially at Brown and Columbia, but increased at Yale and Stanford by similar margins.  Harvard, Penn, and Princeton all experienced a slight decrease.

Change in Volume Applications 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011
Brown 28,671 30,946 30,136 24,988 20,633 19,097
Columbia 31,818 34,587 26,178 25,428 22,585 21,343
Cornell 37,673 36,387 36,337 34,381 33,073 30,383
Dartmouth 23,052 22,385 18,778 18,130 16,538 14,176
Harvard 34,285 34,970 30,489 29,112 27,462 22,955
Penn 31,127 31,663 26,938 22,939 22,922 22,646
Princeton 26,663 27,115 26,247 21,964 21,369 18,942
Yale 28,870 27,283 25,869 26,003 22,817 19,323
Stanford 36,744 34,348 32,022 30,429 25,298 23,958
MIT 18,084 17,800 16,632 15,661 13,396 12,445
Total 296,987 297,484 269,626 249,035 226,093 205,268

Ivy League, Stanford and MIT – 5 Years Annual Changes

Change in Volume Applications in % Change 15 to 16 Change 14 to 15 Change 13 to 14 Change 12 to 13 Change 11 to 12 Change 11 to 16
Brown -7.35% 2.69% 20.60% 21.11% 8.04% 50.13%
Columbia -8.01% 32.12% 2.95% 12.59% 5.82% 49.08%
Cornell 3.53% 0.14% 5.69% 3.95% 8.85% 23.99%
Dartmouth 2.98% 19.21% 3.57% 9.63% 16.66% 62.61%
Harvard -1.96% 14.70% 4.73% 6.01% 19.63% 49.36%
Penn -1.69% 17.54% 17.43% 0.07% 1.22% 37.45%
Princeton -1.67% 3.31% 19.50% 2.78% 12.81% 40.76%
Yale 5.82% 5.47% -0.52% 13.96% 18.08% 49.41%
Stanford 6.98% 7.26% 5.24% 20.28% 5.59% 53.37%
MIT 1.60% 7.02% 6.20% 16.91% 7.64% 45.31%
Total -0.17% 10.33% 8.27% 10.15% 10.15% 44.68%

Other Selective Schools – Total Applications Class 2015 and 2014

Universities 2016 2015 Change
Chicago 25,371 21,669 17.08%
CMU 17,364 16,525 5.08%
Duke 31,545 29,526 6.84%
Georgetown 20,050 19,300 3.89%
JHU 19,400 19,201 1.04%
Northwestern 31,991 30,925 3.45%
NYU 43,728 42,242 3.52%
Notre Dame 17,000 16,548 2.73%
Tufts 16,364 17,074 -4.16%
UVA 28,239 23,971 17.80%
Wake Forest 11,131 9,869 12.79%
William Mary 13,600 12,825 6.04%
Liberal Arts Colleges 2016 2015 Change
Amherst 8,527 8,461 0.78%
Barnard 5,376 5,153 4.33%
Bates 5,376 5,146 4.47%
Bowdoin 6,694 6,554 2.14%
Bucknell 8,170 7,797 4.78%
Claremont McKenna 5,041 4,481 12.50%
Colby 5,235 5,159 1.47%
Colgate 7,715 7,708 0.09%
Dickinson 4,547 4,645 -2.11%
Grinnell 4,515 2,969 52.07%
Harvey Mudd 3,529 3,144 12.25%
Lafayette 6,590 5,716 15.29%
Middlebury 8,922 8,533 4.56%
Mt Holyoke 3,900 3,416 14.17%
Pomona 7,325 7,207 1.64%
Scripps 2,367 2,163 9.43%
Smith 4,321 4,128 4.68%
Wesleyan 10,437 9,658 8.07%
Williams 7,038 7,030 0.11%

Admission Statistics for Ivy League & Other Top Colleges


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