2019 Ivy League Admissions Statistics

Ivy League Colleges	Overall Accept. Rate	Regular Decision Accept. Rate	Regular Decision Apps Accepted	Regular Decision Apps Received	Early Decision / Action Accept. Rate	% of Class Filled by Early Apps	Early Decision / Action Apps Rcvd	Early Decision / Action Apps Accepted	Expected Number of Students to Enroll	Total Apps Received	Total Apps Accepted
Brown	8.6%	7.2%	1,970	27,354	20%	38%	3,043	610	1,605	30,397	2,580
Columbia	6.1%	4.8%	1,590	32,877	18.7%	45.4%	3,373	632	1,390	36,250	2,222
Cornell	15.1%	13.7%	5,119	37,340	26.2%	37.5%	4,560	1,196	3,190	41,900	6,315
Dartmouth	10.3%	8.8%	1,637	18,645	26%	43.1%	1,859	483	1,120	20,504	2,120
Harvard	5.3%	3.2%	1,013	31,388	16.5%	n/a*	5,919	977	1,660	37,305	1,990
Penn	9.9%	7.9%	2,381	31,778	23.9%	54.4%	5,489	1,316	2,420	37,267	3,697
Princeton	7.0%	4.9%	1,141	23,440	19.9%	n/a*	3,850	767	1,310	27,290	1,908
Yale	6.5%	4.7%	1,210	25,544	16.0%	n/a*	4,693	753	1,360	30,237	1,963

* n/a = not applicable since an Early Action policy was in place

The graph below of the 2019 Ivy League admissions statistics shows a comparison between the Early Decision / Early Action acceptance rates and the Regular Decision acceptance rates:

Brown University

With a total of 30,397 applications, the third largest in the college’s history, Brown University admitted 2,580 candidates to the Class of 2019. The overall acceptance rate for Brown this year thus stands at 8.5%, the lowest in its history. But not by much. The Class of 2018 saw an 8.6% overall acceptance rate, while the Class of 2015 saw an 8.7% overall acceptance rate. In the Early Decision round, 3,043 students applied for admission and 610 earned acceptance letters. The Early Decision acceptance rate thus stood at 20%, slightly higher than for the three years prior. Brown expected to enroll 1,605 freshmen (indeed 45 more students than for the Class of 2018), and Early Decision candidates filled 38% of the Class of 2019. In the Regular Decision round, 27,354 students applied for admission and 1,970 were accepted, which resulted in a 7.2% acceptance rate, the lowest in Brown University’s history.

Interestingly, two of Brown’s flagship programs, the Brown / RISD Dual Degree Program and its Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME), ended up, respectively, with a 3.3% admit rate and a 4.1% admit rate. In all, 512 applicants applied for the Brown / RISD Dual Degree Program, and 17 candidates earned admission. 2,216 candidates applied to Brown’s Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME), and 90 students earned admission. For those not familiar with Brown’s PLME program, it’s an 8-year program in which students graduate with both a bachelor’s as well as MD. Without question, it is by far and away the single most prestigious combined medical program in America.

Highlights of Brown’s Class of 2019

What’s the public school vs. private school breakdown, you ask? 59% of accepted applicants went to public schools. 41% went to private or parochial schools. Homeschoolers are also included in the latter batch. We didn’t mean to leave them out. Sorry, homeschoolers!

Hailing from 85 nations around the world and each of the 50 states, Brown admits are a diverse bunch. Within the United States, the states representing the most accepted students to the college are Massachusetts, California, Texas, New Jersey, and New York. Shocking, we know. Mississippi? Crickets! And among international accepted students, many hail from Canada, China, India, Korea, and the UK.

Among admitted students to Brown, 45% self-identified as African American, Latino, Asian American, or Native American.

What percentage of accepted students to the Brown Class of 2019 checked that financial aid box, you ask? 61% is your answer.

And how about majors? Top intended concentrations for accepted students to the Class of 2019 are as follows (in no particular order): computer science, biology, international relations, political science, economics, engineering, English, history, and biochemistry.

With respect to school rank, 95% of accepted students to Brown’s Class of 2019 were in the top 10% of their high school classes. Not too shabby, as Adam Sandler might say. Get the reference? Come on! We’ve got to spice up what would otherwise be fairly dry Ivy League college admissions statistics.

Read the complete article on Brown University’s admissions statistics for the Brown Class of 2019.

Columbia University

For the Class of 2019, Columbia University saw the largest applicant pool in its storied history, a history that includes Presidents Eisenhower and Obama. With a total of 36,250 applicants, Columbia College and SEAS received more than 5,800 applications than it did for the Class of 2018. Quite the jump! Kind of like LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers this year, right? For those not in the know, the Cavs were pretty bad last year. But then LeBron returned home.

In the Early Decision round, Columbia College and SEAS received a total of 3,373 applications. This application figure was 2.3% higher than for the Class of 2018, and it indeed marked the largest Early Decision pool in Columbia University’s history. Out of the Early Decision applications, 632 applicants were admitted, marking an 18.7% acceptance rate. Since Columbia expected to enroll 1,390 freshmen, Early Decision candidates filled 45.4% of the Class of 2019.

In the Regular Decision round, Columbia University received 32,877 applications and accepted 1,603 candidates. This culminated in a Regular Decision acceptance rate of 4.9%. However, with 36,250 overall applications received and a total of 2,228 students admitted, the overall acceptance rate stands at 6.1%. And yes indeed…that 6.1% acceptance rate marks the lowest acceptance rate in Columbia University’s history. That seems to be our refrain! Let’s write a song. Crickets. Again.

According to Jessica Marinaccio, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions and Financial Aid at Columbia: “Over the past few months, the admissions staff has reviewed tens of thousands of applications, looking for students who not only have impressive academic records, but also have character and commitment, a dedication to positively impacting the world and boundless intellectual curiosity—all qualities that we believe are quintessentially Columbian. These 2,222 students are bright, innovative, thoughtful, and inquisitive. They are leaders and thinkers who have made a difference in their own communities and who will continue to do so here, as have the more than 250 classes of Columbians before them.” We like to joke about how many of these kinds of quotes deans of admission have on file. They’ve got to mix up their press release rotations every year, right?

Highlights of Columbia’s Class of 2019

Hailing from 76 nations around the world and from each of the 50 states as well as the District of Columbia (and the territories, too!), accepted students to Columbia’s Class of 2019 are geographically diverse. Indeed Columbia wouldn’t have it any other way.

Read the complete articles on Columbia University’s admissions statistics for the Columbia Class of 2019.

Cornell University

For the Class of 2019, Cornell University received a total of 41,900 applications for admission, the second highest applicant pool in the university’s history. But it didn’t top last year’s pool. This year’s grand total included 1,141 fewer applications than for the Class of 2018. We know, we’re Debbie Downer (who, interestingly, attended Dartmouth and not Cornell — Rachel Dratch who played this “SNL” character that is). Back to the Ivy League college admissions statistics! A total of 6,234 applicants were admitted (both in the Early Decision round and the Regular Decision round), which led to an overall acceptance rate of 15.1%.

A total of 29,661 applicants to Cornell were rejected. This marked 1,574 fewer rejections than for the Class of 2018. Yes, they keep track of these things. Who doesn’t? An additional 3,589 applicants were waitlisted.

In addition to the typical fall beginning of school for freshmen, Cornell instituted a new spring admission option this year. On March 31, the freshman notification date, 125 students were informed that they had been admitted not in September 2015, but in January 2016 instead. Surprise! This new program only applied to students who indicated that they wished to attend one the following colleges: Agriculture and Life Sciences, Arts and Sciences, Human Ecology, and the School of Hotel Administration.

Highlights of Cornell’s Class of 2019

53% of accepted students to Cornell’s Class of 2019 identify as female. By our intense calculations, that means that 47% self-identify as male. How’d we do? It’s practically Calculus.

750 marks the average SAT math score for accepted students to Cornell’s Class of 2019. And how about the average SAT critical reading score? 730.

The Class of 2019 hails from all 50 states in addition to the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (home of Tim Duncan!). This year’s statistics include lots of basketball references. We know. The states most represented among accepted students to Cornell’s Class of 2019 are as follows: Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, California, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. Accepted students also hail from 79 countries around the world. But based on citizenship, the Class of 2019 represents even more countries — 100 in fact. This makes the Class of 2019 the most diverse in the storied history of Cornell University.

And how about the ethnic breakdown of the class, you ask? An all-time high percentage of accepted students to Cornell are students of color. Cornell in fact accepted 48% of students of color. And this figure indeed includes the 21% of Asian Americans who were accepted, too. A total of 1,605, or 25.7% of the admitted freshman class, identify themselves as underrepresented minorities (URMs).

The Class of 2019 can also boast of more than 700 first-generation accepted students (first in their families to attend college), more than 800 Cornell legacies, and more than 200 recruited athletes. We at Ivy Coach happen to think the first-generation statistic is pretty cool.

Read the article on Cornell University’s admissions statistics for the Class of 2019.

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College received a total of 20,504 applications for membership in the Class of 2019 and ended up accepting 2,120 of these applicants. This marks an overall acceptance rate for the College on the Hill of 10.3% for this admissions cycle.

In the Early Decision round at Dartmouth, 1,859 students applied and 483 were accepted. While 26% of students who applied through Dartmouth’s Early Decision program earned admission, a more interesting figure is that 43.1% of Dartmouth’s incoming Class of 2019 was filled by those Early Decision accepted students. Dartmouth College expects to enroll 1,120 freshmen.

In the Regular Decision round, 18,645 candidates applied for admission and Dartmouth accepted 1,637, marking an 8.8% Regular Decision acceptance rate.

The Class 2019, which shall be known as the “Anniversary Class” at Dartmouth, will be seniors when Dartmouth celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding. Hi Eleazer Wheelock! Dartmouth was founded in 1769 so the math adds up, by our calculations. Now that’s exciting!

On March 31st, when students logged onto the portal and accessed their online letters of admission, they also were able to view a congratulatory video featuring Dartmouth students welcoming them to the College on the Hill. This was a nice touch, Dartmouth! Way to go, Big Green.

Highlights of Dartmouth’s Class of 2019

26.9% of admitted students hail from the West, including from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. Another 22.8% hail from the Mid-Atlantic, 19.3% from the South, 13.1% from New England, and 9.3% hail from the Midwest.

Another 7.9% of admitted students are international students.

The average SAT scores among accepted students to Dartmouth were in the 98th percentile nationwide.

Of the high schools that rank its students, 94.9% of the admitted students to Dartmouth rank in the top 10% of their graduating class.

38.4% of admitted students are valedictorians and 10.1% are salutatorians.

14.9% of admitted students are the first in their families to attend college. That’s pretty cool!

49.8% of the Class of 2019 self-identified as students of color or as multi-racial. Again, pretty cool, Dartmouth!

The top ten areas of academic interest among accepted students were as follows: engineering, biology, economics, government, psychological and brain sciences, mathematics, computer science, physics, chemistry, and English.

8% of accepted students are Dartmouth legacies.

Read the complete article on Dartmouth College’s admissions statistics for the Dartmouth Class of 2019.

Harvard College

In the Single Choice Early Action (SCEA) round, Harvard College admitted 977 applicants out of the 5,919 candidates who applied for admission to the Class of 2019. This marks a 16.5% acceptance rate in this round. It is the lowest Early Action acceptance rate since Harvard’s Class of 2007, when the Early Action acceptance rate was 15.1%. It’s important to note that for four years (from the Class of 2012 through the Class of 2015), Harvard College had no Early Action program in place.

Another 4,292 applicants were deferred to the Regular Decision round, 541 were rejected, 19 withdrew their applications, and 90 were never processed because they were incomplete.

In the Regular Decision round, Harvard received 31,388 applications and accepted 1,013 candidates. This marked a 3.2% admit rate. Yes, 3.2%. Quite low indeed.

Overall, Harvard received 37,305 applications (the highest number of applications in Harvard’s storied history) and admitted 1,990 freshmen to be members of the Class of 2019. The overall acceptance rate thus stands at 5.3% (the lowest in the history of Harvard University). A banner year for Harvard indeed!

Highlights of Harvard’s Class of 2019

Of those students who were admitted Single Choice Early Action to Harvard’s Class of 2019, 22.7% are Asian American, 10.3% are African American, 11.4% are Latino, 1.2% are Native American, and 0.3% are Native Hawaiians.

Overall, 52% of admitted students are male. By our math, that means that 48% of students are female. At many (though not all) of the most highly selective colleges across America, those numbers are usually reversed.

26% of the admitted students to Harvard College expressed an interest in the social sciences while 15% expressed an interest in a humanities concentration, and 6% expressed an interest in computer science. The number of students declaring undecided was 8.5% this year.

21% of admitted students self-identified as Asian American, 13.3% identified as Hispanic, 12.1% as African American, and 2% as Native American or Native Hawaiian.

10.8% of accepted students are international, and 7.7% of accepted students are U.S. dual citizens.

Read the complete articles on Harvard College’s admissions statistics for the Harvard Class of 2019.

University of Pennsylvania

In the Early Decision round for the Class of 2019, the University of Pennsylvania received 5,489 applications and accepted 1,316 happy new Quakers to its four schools — the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Wharton School, and the School of Nursing. This marked a 23.9% acceptance rate, the lowest ED admit rate in Penn’s history and a decrease of 1.3% from last year. Quite impressive, Quakers.

In comparison, for the Class of 2018, Penn received 5,149 Early Decision applications and admitted 1,299 candidates. But perhaps the most interesting of all of these University of Pennsylvania admissions statistics is that 54.4% of the Class of 2019 was filled by Early Decision applicants – leaving only 45.6% of the allocated slots to the 31,778 candidates who applied in the Regular Decision round. Penn annually serves as an outstanding case example on the benefits of applying Early Decision. Take note.

And in the Regular Decision round, out of those 31,778 students who applied for admission, Penn admitted 2,381 freshmen. This marked a 7.5% acceptance rate.

Overall, Penn received 37,267 applications (the most applications in Penn’s long history) and admitted 3,697 students for an overall admit rate of 9.9%. This overall admit rate is the same figure as last year’s which had also been the lowest in Penn’s history. Notice a theme? We sure do.

Highlights of Penn’s Class of 2019

Admitted students for the University of Pennsylvania’s Class of 2019 hail from all 50 states, in addition to the District of Columbia., Guam, and Puerto Rico. The state with the most admitted students is…drum roll please…Pennsylvania. Of course. Pennsylvania indeed had the highest representation of all fifty nifty United States with 483 students (and 170 of those Pennsylvanians are from Philadelphia). 439 students represent New York and 412 students represent California. New Jersey, Massachusetts, Texas, Florida, and Illinois are other states that are largely represented in the Class of 2019. Remember that song that goes something like this…“Fifty nifty United States from thirteen original colonies…shout ‘em, scout ‘em, tell all about ‘em, one by one ‘till we give ‘em a day to every state that’s in the U.S.A…” Maybe not. But we sure do.

15% of the accepted students to Penn for its Class of 2019 represent 84 countries from around the world. Pretty cool.

13% of accepted students for the class of 2019 will be the first generation to attend college in their families. We love that.

14% are Penn legacies, the sons and daughters or the grandsons and granddaughters not of liberty but of Penn Alumni. Hey, Ben Franklin founded Penn. Our joke about the sons of liberty makes good sense. It was a show on History Channel this year, though it wasn’t particularly good or historically accurate.

45% of the class identified themselves as students of color, which we also find to be quite…nifty.

Read the complete articles on the University of Pennsylvania’s admissions statistics for the UPenn Class of 2019.

Princeton University

In the SCEA round, Princeton received 3,850 applications and admitted 767 candidates at a 19.9% acceptance rate. For comparison purposes, for the Class of 2018, Princeton received 3,854 applications. It wasn’t a significant difference. The figures from SCEA also didn’t mark the most applications for the round in Princeton’s history, but, in the end, records would fall this year at Princeton’s admissions office. They just had a slow start. Again, like this year’s Cleveland Cavaliers.
In the Regular Decision round, 23,440 candidates applied and Princeton admitted 1,141 candidates at a 4.9% acceptance rate.

Overall, 27,290 students applied (an all-time high) to Princeton and 1,908 earned admission. This marked an overall acceptance rate of 7.0%. It was the lowest acceptance rate in Princeton University’s history and a big comeback from the SCEA round!

And as for students placed in limbo, 1,207 candidates earned spots on the Princeton waitlist.

Additionally, 35 members of Princeton’s Class of 2019 are expected to defer their enrollment at the university for one year to participate in Princeton’s Bridge Year Program. This program allows incoming students to spend a tuition-free year engaging in international service work in China, India, Bolivia, Senegal, or Brazil.

Highlights of Princeton’s Class of 2019

Princeton’s popularity undoubtedly grew significantly this year because of its incredible financial aid program. As the university’s press release notes, “The aid comes in the form of grants, which do not need to be repaid. Approximately 60% of all undergraduate students receive aid, and the average grant is more than $40,000 per year. Typically students from families with incomes below $60,000 pay no tuition, room or board, and students from families with incomes below $140,000 pay no tuition.”

Admitted Princeton students hail from 49 states, in addition to the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. New Jersey, of course, has the largest representation being as Princeton is located in New Jersey. California, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Texas are other states that were largely represented by the Class of 2019. Shocking, we know.

13% of admitted students are international, representing 66 countries.

48% are women, which means that 52% are male. At many high selective colleges, this statistic is reversed.

49% of accepted students self-identified as students of color, including as biracial and as multiracial.

61% of accepted students attend public schools. So for those folks who suggest one needs to attend a private school to get into an Ivy League college, they aren’t familiar with the admissions statistics at Ivy League schools.

15% of accepted students are first generation, meaning they’ll be the first in their families to attend college. Nicely done, Princeton.

10% of admitted students are Princeton legacies.

23% of admitted students expressed an interest in pursuing engineering, and a record 44% of those students are females. We think that is absolutely awesome and a really interesting figure to release to the press. Way to go, Princeton. May other colleges follow suit.

Read the complete articles on Princeton University’s admissions statistics for the Princeton Class of 2019.

Yale University

In the SCEA round, Yale received 4,693 applications and admitted 753 candidates. This marked a 16% acceptance rate at the university.

In the Regular Decision round, Yale received 25,544 applications and accepted 1,210 candidates at a 4.7% admit rate.

Overall, in both the SCEA and RD rounds, Yale received 30,237 applications and accepted 1,963 applications.

Another 57% of SCEA applicants were deferred to the Regular Decision round, and 26% were rejected outright. 1% withdrew their applications or submitted incomplete applications. Silly applicants.

Yale intends is to have an incoming class of 1,360 freshmen, the precise same figure as for the Class of 2018.

It should be noted that none of these aforementioned statistics represent all-time records for Yale University. The Class of 2018 was Yale’s banner year across the board. Hey, every year can’t be a banner year! Maybe next year. Probably so.

Highlights of Yale’s Class of 2019

In the SCEA round, 40 of the admitted students were “matched” to Yale University through the QuestBridge National College Match program. This was the highest number of matches Yale has made since partnering with QuestBridge in 2007. That’s certainly interesting. As noted in “The Yale Daily News,” “This was the strongest group of QuestBridge finalists I have reviewed since beginning the QuestBridge partnership with Yale in 2007,” [Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah] Quinlan said. “It is wonderful to be able to offer these 40 students admission to Yale and a financial aid award that does not require their parents to pay anything towards the entire cost of attendance.”

Read the complete article on Yale University’s admissions statistics for the Yale Class of 2019.