Applications to Dartmouth for the Class of 2008 dropped nominally from last year's record number of applicants, according to preliminary numbers from Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenberg. As of Wednesday, the Admissions Office had received 11,750 applications for next year's freshman class, down 100 -- less than 1 percent -- from last year's total. However, at this time last year only 11,700 applications had made their way to McNutt Hall.
"I would have to say that I am very pleased that total application numbers have remained constant at such a high level given last year's record increase," Furstenberg said. "What's more reassuring is that the academic profile has also increased."
Most notably, the average SAT scores for the applicant pool increased to 1385, up from 1373 last year.
Furstenberg noted that "obviously as we select the strongest applicants from the pool the SAT average for admitted students will go way up."
International applicantions rose 4 percent from last year, while applications from minorities remained strong at 24 percent of the total applicant pool.
The male to female ratio for the applicants is slightly more balanced than last year, with a ratio of 53 to 47 percent males to females.
Meanwhile, the breakdown of the type of high school applicants attended was the same as last year; 65 percent come from public schools, 28 percent from private schools and seven percent from parochial high schools.
Last year's record-level of applications made admission for the Class of 2007 the most selective in the school's history.
Only 17.5 percent of applicants were admitted. With this year's number of applicants on par with last year's numbers, the admission rate will stay well below 20 percent for the second-straight year.
This year, 384 students were accepted through the college's binding early decision program, leaving fewer than 700 spots in next year's freshman class for the approximately 10,470 students who applied to Dartmouth regular decision.
No other Ivy League school has reported its application numbers for the Class of 2008.
"One thing is assured, and that is that this pool of applicants will yield another impressive class for Dartmouth."