The College admitted 483 students to the Class of 2019 through the early decision process, the College announced on December 12. The students were selected from a pool of 1,859 — the largest in Dartmouth history — for an acceptance rate of 26 percent.
This represents the lowest early decision admittance rate since 2011, when Dartmouth accepted 25.8 percent of early decision applicants for the Class of 2016. Last year, Dartmouth accepted 27.9 percent of early applicants from a smaller pool of 1,678.
Five hundred and seventy-eight students were denied admission and 787 were deferred. Eleven students 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. 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 eight percent. Fifty percent applied for financial aid.
The class also includes 148 varsity athletes. Varsity athletes always comprise a large percentage of the early pool, and approximately 50 athletes will be accepted regular decision, Laskaris 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.
Alex Waterhouse, a senior at Devonport High School for Boys in Plymouth, 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.
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 early in hopes of getting 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, and 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,” he said. About 16 percent of Harvard University non-binding early action applicants — or 977 students — were offered places in the Class of 2019. Yale and Princeton, who also offer non-binding early action programs, admitted 16 and 19.9 percent of applicants, respectively.
Brown University accepted 617 students, or just over 20 percent of early decision applicants, while the University of Pennsylvania admitted 24.3 percent.
Like Dartmouth, peer institutions Harvard and Penn and saw their early acceptance rate decrease slightly while Yale and Princeton saw a marginal increase in early acceptance rates.
Cornell University and Columbia University have not disclosed their early decision numbers.
