After six straight years of increases in total applications, the College this year saw a six percent drop in the application pool for the incoming freshman class.
The number of applicants for the Class of 2001 fell to 10,700 applicants from last year's 11,385 -- a drop which is consistent with the trend across the country.
Despite the six percent drop, the 10,700 total applications still represent the second-highest number ever received by the College in a single year, surpassed only by last year's number, according to Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg.
Furstenberg said all Ivy League schools except Columbia saw a fall from last year's numbers.
Harvard University's total applications were down nine to 10 percent, Princeton University saw a eight percent drop and Yale University lost seven percent off of last year's numbers, according to Furstenberg.
Furstenberg said although the total pool is smaller this year, it is "more diverse and stronger academically" than any previous collection of freshman candidates.
Reasons for the decline
Furstenberg said the across-the-board drop is probably due to recent publicity about the difficulty of getting into Ivy League schools, which might have scared off some high school seniors from applying.
College President James Freedman said "we can relate from this that students are applying wisely to schools rather than wasting their applications on schools they are not likely to get into."
"It would seem the students that are not applying are the ones that are the weakest academically," Furstenberg said. "This is confirmed by the fact that this year's applicant pool is actually much stronger than last year's."
The average SAT scores for this year's applicants were 10 points higher than last year's. The average verbal scores jumped from 662 last year to 666 this year, and the average math scores increased from 677 to 683.
These are the largest score increases Furstenberg said he has ever seen from one year to the next.
Another factor that contributed to the lower number of applicants this year was the increase in the number of early decision applicants, Furstenberg said.
This year, 1,318 early decision applications were received out of a total pool of 10,700, meaning 12.3 percent of the total applications were early decisions.
On the other hand, 1,250 out of a total 11,385 applications for the Class of 2000 were early decision -- or 11.0 percent.
"If there are more early applications, it stands to reason that regular decision might be off a little bit," Furstenberg said.
Encouraging trends
Furstenberg said although the total applicant pool is down from last year, he is encouraged by the fact that the applications for the Class of 2001 are the closest to gender parity in the College's history.
There were 5,778 men and 4,922 women who applied for admission to the incoming freshman class, a 54 to 46 percent balance. Last year's male-female ratio was 55 to 45.
In addition, Furstenberg said he was heartened by the fact that minority applications have remained consistent.
Between 400 and 420 African-Americans applied for the Class of 2001, approximately the same as last year. About 1,100 Asian-Americans applied, equal to last year's number, and Native American applications totaled about 150, also roughly the same as last year.
The only minority group that experienced a decline in applications was Latino and Latin American students. Approximately 480 Latino and Latin American students applied to the College this year, down from 537 last year -- a drop of more than 10 percent.
Furstenberg argued that since applications from Latino and Latin American students had increased rapidly over the past six years, it became "harder to sustain that rate of growth over time."
Associate Director of Admissions Christine Pina said the Admissions Office has programs to attract students of color.
Despite the negative publicity that Dartmouth has received regarding racism in recent years, the steady numbers of applicants indicate continuing minority interest, Pina said.
"[Applicants] may look at the incidents that occur on campus, but they also look at how [Dartmouth students] respond," Pina said.
Pina said Dartmouth responds collectively to negative situations. Because of this, the incidents of racism in recent years did not have an effect on the number of minority applicants for the Class of 2001, she said.
The next steps
With the Jan. 1 application deadline more than a month passed, the Admissions Office is working feverishly to select the 1,085 members of the Class of 2001.
Three-hundred and eighty-nine students, or 35 percent of the incoming class, have already been accepted through early decision. Furstenberg and the other members of the admissions committee are "into the heaviest part of the application evaluation process" to select the remaining 700 or so incoming freshmen. "Decisions are being made everyday at this point," he said.
The College will mail final letters of acceptance or rejection to the prospective students on Wednesday, Apr. 2, Furstenberg said. The admissions committee is aiming to have all the decisions finalized approximately two weeks before then, he said.
