Dartmouth College Admissions
465 students were admitted to Dartmouth College through Early Decision (photo credit: Gavin Huang).
The Dartmouth College Admissions Office has announced that 465 students were admitted to the College on the Hill through Early Decision. The 465 incoming students mark an increase of 21 students as only 444 students were admitted via Early Decision for the Dartmouth Class of 2015. According to “The Dartmouth,” these 465 students will represent 40% of the incoming Dartmouth Class of 2016.
With 1,800 applications to Dartmouth this year in Early Decision, the university witnessed an increase in the applicant pool from the previous year (41 more students applied). The 41 student increase marks a 2.6% increase. If you’ll recall, some Ivy League colleges witnessed decreases in their Early applicant pools this fall (see Yale University Early Stats and UPenn Early Stats).
Is it interesting to you that with Harvard and Princeton reinstating Early policies this admissions cycle, some Ivy League colleges saw decreases in their applicant pool? Why do you think this wasn’t the case at Dartmouth College? Let us know your thoughts by posting below!
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2 Comments
Generally speaking, the type of student who is applying to Yale under the Early-Action agreement, is also thinking about applying to Harvard and Princeton. Because both Harvard and Princeton haven’t had an early option, many students have flocked to Yale’s non-binding option or UPenn’s binding option to beat the statistics (I mean, why not? It can’t hurt. UPenn historically has had a high Early acceptance rate, and with Yale, you’ll still be able to apply to the other two). Now that Harvard and Princeton have reinstated their Early-Action, many students don’t feel the need to try and beat the statistics by applying to their second or third choices early. Harvard and Princeton shifted the pool.
Now, the reason I think Dartmouth’s numbers didn’t go down was because the student who generally is applying early to Dartmouth, is applying for entirely different reasons. They want to be apart of that particular community. People generally won’t apply to a school thats in New Hampshire, remote and isolated in the woods, cold for a major part of the year, just because the admit rate is higher than Harvard/Princeton’s regular decision cycle. Sure, there may be some who did exactly this for this application cycle, but it seems naive almost. Students who apply early to Dartmouth are passionate about the school, the school’s community (Hanover), and the people who are there.
So in short, I think Dartmouth’s numbers are basically the same because the type of applicants are different. In case you were wondering/could tell, yes I will be attending Dartmouth next year as a member of the class of 2016. I was accepted through the Early-Decision program, and don’t regret it at all. Sure, I looked at all the others, but this was the place for me. I have friends who attend many of the other ivies, and who are currently applying.
My advice, don’t make your choice based off of statistics. Apply to the school that best fits you, naturally. I got into Dartmouth, while a friend of mine didn’t get into UPenn, when UPenn’s acceptance rate is higher, and I would say we are just as bright. Obviously its more subjective than that, but still. Don’t make a life choice like this because of some numbers on a chart.
Generally,I think Dartmouth attracts a different type of candidate than Yale,very good academically but not perfect like most of the candidates for HYPSM and also more prone to weigh intangibles like surrounding environment than academic reputation alone. I believe the Dartmouth candidate is more like the candidates for Duke, G’town, N’western, UVA out of state, and other schools considered Top 20 academically but also fairly fun places to go. Thus, less impact from Harvard and Princeton re-instituing EA.