Vanderbilt University has notified Early Decision I applicants of their decisions. In all, approximately 2,700 students applied to Vandy in the first round of the school’s binding Early Decision program. Of these students, around 650 earned admission, marking an ED I admission rate of about 24.1%. And here’s where we’d compare this year’s ED I admission rate to last year’s but Vanderbilt didn’t release the ED I admission rate last year — only the combined ED I and ED II admission rate, which stood at 18.1%. But that’s comparing apples to oranges since the admission rate in ED II is typically significantly lower than in ED I.

Oh, and if you’re wondering why Vanderbilt released this year’s ED I admission rate when it didn’t do so in years past, it was a mistake by the admissions office! As Rachael Perrotta reports for The Vanderbilt Hustler in a piece entitled “‘Pure joy’: 24.1% of early decision I applicants admitted to Class of 2026,” “These statistics were posted on Dec. 15 in a now-deleted Vanderbilt Admissions blog. Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Doug Christiansen stated that an internal miscommunication caused the statistics to be released earlier than planned. The EDI statistics initially released were confirmed by Christiansen. He said the Office of Undergraduate Admissions is reviewing ED applicants in the same way as in previous years.”

Congratulations to all of Ivy Coach’s students who completed applications with us and applied Early Decision I to the Vanderbilt University Class of 2026. You all got in!