Following a fall season marked by nationwide controversy over early admissions programs, Dartmouth admitted approximately 30 percent of its early decision applicants, filling one-third of the Class of 2011. Application numbers decreased by approximately 2 percent from 1,317 to 1,287 early applicants, a normal rate of fluctuation according to Dean of Admissions and Financial Karl Furstenberg. The number of students admitted decreased by less than one percent.
"I think that really reflects our thinking about the responsible use of early decision," Furstenberg said regarding the slight drop in the admit rate. "We've said publicly in the course of the debate this fall that it's reasonable for a college to take about a third of its class early, so we felt an obligation to really try to keep it to roughly a third."
The students -- 193 males and 189 females -- were notified of their admission to the College on Dec. 7, 2006.
The geographic distribution of admitted students showed a strong variation from previous years with a large decrease in students from the Northeast. Ninety-one students were admitted from New England and 110 students were admitted from the Mid-Atlantic, down from 102 and 136 students, respectively, in 2005. The number of admitted students from the Midwest, South and far West increased.
"I think we're off to a really good start on this class," Furstenberg said. "The numbers are pretty consistent with the last couple years and since these years have been so selective and competitive, it's good to be at the same place."
Thirty admitted students live outside the United States and 23 are non-citizens, making up the largest number of international students ever to be admitted to the College during early decision.
"We've done a lot of international recruiting in the last few years and that's beginning to show up. That's been the fastest growing part of the applicant pool," Furstenberg said.
Approximately 50 percent of those accepted attended public school, down from 59 percent in 2005. Of the 382 admitted applicants, 45 percent attended private school and 5 percent attended parochial.
Fifty-eight of the accepted students were legacies, a slight drop from the 60 legacies admitted early last year.
The academic profile of those accepted also remains strong and quite similar to previous years. Despite slight drops in SAT scores, the percentage of students ranking at the top of their classes increased slightly. Valedictorians made up 27 percent of the admits, salutatorians 10 percent and students in the top tenth of their class 90 percent. Among accepted students the mean SAT verbal score was 702, the mean SAT math score 713 and the mean SAT writing score 701.
Recruited athletes -- of which there were 120 -- comprised about 31 percent of the admitted group. According to Furstenberg, the majority of athletic recruitment in the Ivy League is accomplished through early admissions programs, a process he said is a "fairly efficient way" to enroll recruited athletes in the absence of athletic scholarships.
Despite slight fluctuations among groups, the total number of students of color admitted early remained similar to last year; 70 students of color were admitted early to the College this year, compared to 71 students in 2005.
In looking ahead to the next several months of the admissions season, Furstenberg expressed concern about how recent events at the College may affect the number of students of color that choose to apply or matriculate to the College.
"This was a difficult Fall term for the Dartmouth community and campus," Furstenberg said, referring to the series of racially offensive incidents this fall that brought about the "Solidarity Against Hatred" rally on Nov. 29, 2006.
The national publicity and press coverage of these events may play a role in the decision process of prospective students, Furstenberg said.
"I think what will be key is how things unfold in the Winter term," Furstenberg said. "If there continues to be a positive response on campus both from students and the administration, then I think that the events from the fall might not have as much of an effect on prospective students. But that remains to be seen."
While this fall marked the last season of early admission at several colleges, including Harvard University, Princeton University and the University of Virginia, Furstenberg does not believe this had any notable effect on admissions numbers.
"No one changed their early admissions plans for this year and the group of students applying this year is different than that applying next year," Furstenberg said. "Across highly selective colleges some numbers were up and some were down, so it seems to me like a typical year."
At Harvard, the first University to announce its plans to end its early action program in the Fall of 2007, the early applicant pool increased by about 3.5 percent from last year. This fall saw 4,008 students apply to Harvard's single-choice early action program, compared to the 3,869 applicants of last year.
Princeton saw a two percent increase in early decision applicants this year as compared to last year.
Notably, the applicant pool at Yale University dropped by 13 percent from last year without any clear reason.
Furstenberg said this drop might be attributable to the increased selectivity of the University, which tends to put downward pressure on the number of people who apply.
This round of early admissions reinforced for Furstenberg the decision to maintain Dartmouth's early decision program in the future.
"Early decision, if it's done the way we do it, is actually a positive element in the college search process. People who have a clear first choice can find out early, simplify the process for themselves and in the course of that simplify for other people because the system is less clogged with multiple applications later on," he said.
