In its most selective year in history, Dartmouth offered admission to 9.7 percent of applicants for the incoming Class of 2015. Of the 2,179 admitted applicants, 1,114 accepted their offer of admission, representing a 52 percent yield for the Class of 2015, according to Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Maria Laskaris.
Students of color comprise 35 percent of the incoming class and international students representing 37 countries comprise 7 percent, according to Laskaris.
The class includes 562 men and 552 women. Ten percent of incoming students are the first in their family to attend college, while 13 percent are legacy students students who had at least one parent receive an undergraduate education at the College.
Valedictorians comprise 37 percent of the class, and 87 percent of the students were in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class among high schools that rank students.
The mean SAT scores for the class were 716 for critical reading, 726 for math and 727 for writing, Laskaris said.
Admission was offered to students from all 50 states, although the final makeup of the class does not include students from Mississippi, Nebraska and West Virginia.
Although there has been an increase in the proportion of students from the South, West and Midwest over the past few years, this year saw an increase in students from New England and the Mid-Atlantic states 20 percent and 27 percent of the class, respectively. Eleven percent of students in the Class of 2015 are from the Midwest, 20 percent are from the West and 16 percent are from the South.
Laskaris described the yield rate of the incoming class as typical for the College. The yield rate for the Class of 2014 55 percent was unusual for Dartmouth and allowed administrators to "begin to understand the implications of a larger first-year class," she said.
The desired class size for the Class of 2015 was a maximum of 1,109 students due to limited housing accommodations and College resources, according to Laskaris.
Laskaris said she is looking forward to the "eagerness and excitement" that the new class will bring to Dartmouth.
"It's a very talented group of students and we're very excited," she said.
The Class of 2015 includes two veterans of the armed forces and an Olympic gold medalist Hannah Kearney '15 who placed first in the 2010 Olympics for mogul skiing.
Laskaris noted that many students in the class were very engaged in international issues and service.
"We were looking for students who desire to make a difference and have really shown that in their communities," she said.
Twenty-five students were also admitted as transfer students, primarily to the sophomore class.
This year, the College reintroduced loans as part of financial aid packages. Although final financial aid packages are still being determined, currently 43 percent of the Class of 2015 will receive scholarship aid.
Some students will also receive financial aid in the form of work-study and loans.
The average scholarship awarded to those students receiving aid was $37,737.
