Applications to most Ivy League institutions dropped for the Class of 2008 after last year's applicant pools for the Class of 2007 set several record highs. Dartmouth was no exception: The total number of applications, both regular and early-decision, dropped less than one percent from last year's record number of applicants.
As of last week, 11,750 applications had been sorted, Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenberg said.
Among the Ivy League schools reporting their application numbers, only Brown and Cornell received more applicants this year than they did last year. Cornell saw the largest increase. The 20,800 applications it received represent a 1.9 percent increase over last year, Cornell Director of Admissions Doris Davis said.
Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton all found themselves with fewer applicants this year. Princeton was hit the hardest, dropping 13 percent from last year.
The admissions offices at Columbia and Yale were unavailable for comment.
Despite larger decreases at other schools, Dartmouth again received the fewest applications in the Ivy League. This trend is partially explained, however, by Dartmouth also having the smallest class size of all eight schools.
Cornell boasted the largest increase in the Ancient Eight and also had the largest number of applicants with 20,800. Davis attributed the gain, in part, to a "significant increase in applications from California."
Brown had a much more nominal gain, increasing its applicant pool by less than one percent to 15,255, Brown Director of Admission Michael Goldberger said.
Harvard can attribute its significant drop to this year's change in its early admission policy, which now prevents students from applying early to other schools in addition to Harvard. Last year, Harvard allowed students to apply early to any number of schools in addition to Harvard's non-binding Early Action program. Early applications dropped 49 percent this year from last year's record high, and that change alone had a large impact on Harvard's overall decrease. In fact, regular applications reached a record 15,855 this year, according to Director of Admissions Marlyn McGrath Lewis.
"We are a little surprised we got up to 20,000," McGrath Lewis told The Crimson.
Princeton's precipitous decrease -- from 15,725 last year to 13,655 this year -- may represent the most shocking change. However, Dean of Admissions Janet Rapelye wrote off the drop due to normal yearly fluctuations.
Though acknowledging that applications to Penn were down three percent to around 18,200 applicants, Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson said that he felt like the smaller pool was a stronger pool.
"The indications are that the pool is much stronger this year as it appears that some of the less competitive students have chosen not to apply," Stetson said.
This sentiment was echoed at other schools across the Ivy League, particularly at Dartmouth, where the average SAT scores for the applicant pool reached a record high of 1385, up 12 point from last year's average.
"I would have to say that I am very pleased that the 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."
Harvard found an equally strong pool of applicants despite the decrease. More than 56 percent of applicants scored over 700 on the math section of the SAT and 49 percent scored over 700 on the verbal. 10.2 percent of applicants earned a perfect 800 on the SAT II Writing.
Though Yale has not yet reported its results, many speculate that the university will see a drop like Harvard's because Yale too changed its policy to "Single Choice Early Action."
