On Friday, the College admitted 483 students early decision to the Class of 2019, about 26 percent of the 1,859-person applicant pool. The applicant pool, originally reported by Dartmouthas 1,856 students, wasthelargest in College history.
Five hundred and seventy-eight students were denied admission, and 787 were deferred. Elevenstudents submitted incomplete applications. This year, early decision applications increased by 10.7 percent, and the admitted group of students will represent approximately 41 percent of Dartmouth’s Class of 2019, dean of admissions and financial aid Maria Laskaris wrote in an email.
Of the 1,210 students who initially accepted offers to join the Class of 2018, 38.8 percent were admitted early decision. About a decade ago, this figure was 35 percent, but it has steadied at around 40 percent over the past five years.
Nearly 90 percent of admitted students who attend schools that report rank were in the top 10 percent of their high school class. The mean SAT score of accepted students was 2145, and the mean ACT score was 32.
Laskaris said that this year’s pool was the most diverse early decision class the College has seen.
Nine percent of admitted students are the first generation in their family to attend college, and 19 percent are legacies. Students of color make up 26 percent of the admitted group and international students compose 8 percent. Fifty percent applied for financial aid.
Forty-nine percent of admitted students attend public high schools, 46 percent attend private high schools and the remaining 5 percent attend parochial schools. Twenty-two percent of admitted students attend schools in New England, and 28 percent attend schools in the Mid-Atlantic.
The class also includes 148 varsity athletes. Varsity athletes always make up a large percentage of the early pool, and approximately 50 athletes will be accepted regular decision, Laskaris said.
“I don’t know if there’s any particular reason why they would choose to wait,” she said.
Margaret Jones, a senior at Myers Park High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, said she applied early because she knew she wanted to attend Dartmouth after a campus tour during her junior year.
“I got the best feeling from it, something I didn’t get from any of the other schools I had toured,” Jones said.
She said she also thought she had a better chance of being accepted if she applied early.
Jones said it was “nice having that sense of security” of knowing where she was going early in the college acceptance season.
Alex Waterhouse, a senior at Devonport High School for Boys inPlymouth, said he was not considering college in the United States until he participated in the Sutton Trust U.S. program — in partnership with the U.S.-U.K. Fulbright Commission — which allowed him to visit colleges around the East Coast. Although Waterhouse did not visit Dartmouth on the trip, he became interested after seeing photos of the College online.
“I probably watched every single video on the Dartmouth YouTube,” Waterhouse said.
Waterhouse said he liked the College’s focus on studying abroad and its new entrepreneurial center. Since he knew Dartmouth was his first choice, he decided to apply right away to hopefully get a head start on the visa process.
Waterhouse acknowledged that Dartmouth has recently received some negative attention in the national media, but said he knew the College had a number of initiatives in place to address issues such as Greek life.
Nick Turk, a senior at the O'Fallon Township High School in Illinois, said he looked at schools with top economics programs, which attracted him to Dartmouth. He also said the College’s emphasis on the outdoors and study abroad drew him to Hanover.
Turk said he was impressed with current Dartmouth students and graduates who have used their education globally.
“Everything I see coming out of Dartmouth are those types of people and those types of stories, going out all over the world and making an impact on people’s lives,” Turk said.“That was definitely one of the big considerations on me wanting to go here so badly.”
When Turk visited the College this past summer, he said he saw a strong sense of community and support on campus and decided to apply early.
“If I could pack my bags and move out to Hanover today, I would,” Turk said.
About 16 percent of Harvard University early action applicants — or 977 students —were accepted yesterday. Brown University accepted 617 students, orjust over 20 percentof early decision applicants.
Cornell University and Columbia Universityhave released their decisionsto applicants, but the universities have not published application figures.
The University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University and Yale University will notify applicants of their decisions next week.
