Correction appended
This year's increase in submitted applications to the College which rose 15.7 percent for the Class of 2015 reflects a developing trend among higher education institutions, according to David Hawkins, director of public policy and research at the National Association of College Admissions Counseling. Dartmouth experienced the second highest increase in the Ivy League, falling in line with peer schools such as Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania.
While the universal increase in applications to Ivy League institutions is not attributable to a single factor, the increased number of high school students pursuing higher education immediately upon graduation, students' tendency to submit more college applications than in the past and an increased emphasis on recruitment among selective colleges to maintain low acceptance rates all contribute to the trend, Hawkins said.
The increase in applications over the past 10 years is due to the lack of certainty in the admissions process, the comprehensiveness of different school's recruitment efforts and "environmental characteristics" such as celebrity enrollment and athletic success, according to Hawkins.
Dartmouth's Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Maria Laskaris said the College and most of its peer institutions have all witnessed a rise in applicants.
"I think it's the case of a rising tide lifts all boats," Laskaris said. "Students are now applying to more schools than ever before."
Students understand that they must "cast a wider net" when filling out applications due to the increasingly competitive admissions process, according to Laskaris.
As in past years, Dartmouth received the fewest number of applications in the Ivy League 21,700 for the Class of 2015. Princeton University, the institution with the most similar enrollment to Dartmouth with 4,600 undergraduate students, received 27,115 application. Approximately 31,000 students applied to Brown University, which has an undergraduate enrollment of 5,800 students.
Dartmouth enrolled 4,248 undergraduates as of Fall 2010, according to the Dartmouth College Fact Book.
Although Dartmouth's applicant pool has more than doubled over the last decade, the College's rural environment and weather may affect the number of applications the school receives, Laskaris said.
"We are the smallest of the Ivy League schools," Laskaris said. "We've seen tremendous growth relative to other institutions in the size of our pool."
There are also several misconceptions among high school students regarding Dartmouth students' access to resources and the diversity of the community, she said.
"I think a lot of our work has really been to get students to look beyond some of their stereotypes and misperceptions of Dartmouth and see us for who we really are," Laskaris said.
Alumni volunteers, partnerships with community organizations and the Office of Admissions's recruitment efforts have focused on expanding diversity at the College, Laskaris said.
"At Dartmouth, that has been a large part of our growth over the past several years and I think that is a reflection of our large outreach efforts," she said. "We're all interested in broadening access to students who in the past have been underrepresented in our communities."
Like Dartmouth, Harvard and Penn received approximately 15 percent more applications this year. Harvard received 35,000 applications while Penn received 30,956 applications, according to the Harvard Gazette and The Daily Pennsylvanian.
The rise in applications was caused by the institutions' no-loan financial aid policies, which were implemented starting with the Class of 2013, Penn's Dean of Admissions Eric Furda said in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian.
Dartmouth terminated its no-loan policy for students whose annual family income exceeds $75,000 on Feb. 8, 2010, The Dartmouth previously reported. The decision was part of the College's effort to mitigate its $100-million budget shortfall.
The increase in Harvard's undergraduate applications was likely due to the school's "targeted" recruitment efforts and a trend among high school seniors aided by the Common Application to apply to multiple colleges so that they can compare financial aid offers, Harvard University Director of Admissions Marlyn McGrath said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
With a 3 percent increase in applications, Brown saw the smallest change among Ivy League institutions that have reported their application numbers, according to a Brown press release. The applications to Brown have increased by 50 percent over the past three years, the release said.
Columbia University experienced a 32 percent rise in applications, according to the Columbia Spectator. The University, which received 34,587 applications, attributes this dramatic rise in applicants to many factors including the "greater ease of and access to our application process by virtue of our first-year membership with the Common Application," Columbia University's Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jessica Marinaccio said in a statement.
Columbia's adoption of the Common Application may have been part of a "concerted effort" to increase recruitment and attract more applicants, Hawkins said.
Princeton saw a 3.3 percent increase in the number of applications it received for the Class of 2015, according to a press release from the University. The University's applicant pool has increased by 98 percent over the past seven years, according to the release.
Yale University, which received 27,230 applications, experienced an increase of approximately 5 percent over the past year, the Yale Daily News reported.
Cornell University has not finished processing its applications for its Class of 2015, but received 36,237 freshman applications as of mid-January, according to Press Relations Director Claudia Wheatley. Cornell received 36,377 regular decision applications for the Class of 2014, The Cornell Daily Sun reported.
