Dartmouth's early decision applications rose 8 percent this year, according to Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenberg, who noted that the 1,210 early applications for the Class of 2007 is the highest number in five years.
Early applications increased around the Ivy League, with Dartmouth seeing the smallest percent increase of the five Ancient Eight schools that have released application statistics so far.
"We are quite happy with our early decision turnout, particularly since our largest increase came from female applications," Furstenberg said. "This is the closest the early decision pool has ever been in male to female ratio."
While both the number of men and women increased this year, men's applications only increased 2 to 3 percent, while women's applications increased 12 percent compared to last year.
Another positive trend, according to Furstenberg, was a large increase in the number of early applications coming from public schools.
"Almost all of the increase this year has come from students from public high schools," Furstenberg said. "It's nice to see with so much debate over early decision recently, and with the talk of early decision only helping students from private schools and advantaged backgrounds, that it is not the case here."
Other schools in the Ivy League saw similar increases. Early applications to Columbia were up 11 percent this year over last, University of Pennsylvania received 3,401 applications, a 12 percent increase, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian, Yale saw a 23 percent jump from last year and Princeton enjoyed an 11 percent increase.
Cornell, Brown and Harvard have not yet released early application statistics for the Class of 2007.
"We feel like there is a lot of interest in the school this year," Furstenberg said, "and that bodes well for the future of Dartmouth.
Reacting to what was by far the biggest percent increase in the Ivy League, Yale Dean of Admissions Richard Shaw expressed concern at the widespread trend toward an increase in those applying early. Yale announced recently that it will switch to a non-binding "early action" program for the Class of 2008.
Shaw and Yale President Richard Levin have publicly worried about the possibility of early admission being used as a college admissions tactic instead of a declaration of first choice -- and Shaw said he fears that this year's statistics are a possible realization of this fear.
"We have to ask ourselves, is this good or bad when everybody is up," Shaw said. "It depends on whether this is a result of an increasing number of high school graduates or an increasing focus on early admissions."
Furstenberg acknowledged the possibility of such a problem, but noted that it was not the case at Dartmouth.
"If the increase was the result of us seeing more students from advantaged backgrounds, that would not necessarily be good," Furstenberg said. "But if the increase represents a broader applicant pool from a greater variety of backgrounds, it is positive. That is the case with our early decision pool."
Though some schools cap the number of applications they accept early to leave room for the regular decision pool of applicants, Dartmouth does not set a cap.
In past years between 30 and 38 percent of the eventual number of acceptances originated from the early decision pool, and Furstenberg said he plans to stay somewhere within that range when choosing the Class of 2007.
Students awaiting a decision from Dartmouth won't have to wait long -- the College will mail decisions on Dec. 9.
