Admissions Numbers Change Slightly

By Laura Engshuber | Apr 07 2010 | Admissions |

Georgetown congratulated 19 percent of applicants on their acceptance to the class of 2014 last week, according to statistics released by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

This year’s admit rate was almost on par with last year’s more selective 18.7 percent acceptance rate. The number of applications experienced a small decline over the past year, from 18,600 to 18,100, 6,100 of which were completed in the early action cycle.

While application numbers for the School of Foreign Service and the School of Nursing and Health Studies fell only marginally, the most noticeable shift occurred in the College and the McDonough School of Business. 366 fewer students applied to the MSB this year, a 12.7 percent drop, according to the statistics. Meanwhile, the College’s numbers continued to climb, netting an increase of almost 2,000 applicants since 2006.

“This year, the only major trend in undergraduate admissions was more people applying to the College and less to the MSB,” Deacon said in an interview.

Georgetown College also had the lowest acceptance rate, at 18.1 percent. The School of Foreign Service admitted 20.5 percent of applicants, the School of Nursing and Health Studies 20.9 percent, and the McDonough School of Business 22.3 percent. According to Deacon, the College has always had the lowest admit rate because of the breadth of its applicant pool.

The academic bar was set high once more for prospective students this year. Admitted students’ SAT scores averaged between a 1330 and a 1530 on the 1600 scale. 74 percent of applicants with perfect combined scores of 1600 in the math and critical reading sections were accepted. Of the 2,290 valedictorians who applied, 56 percent were sent congratulatory letters.

Deacon emphasized the university’s commitment to recruiting higher numbers of international, minority, lower income and first-generation students.

“There is a priority of recruiting … students whose parents did not attend college. In fact, these are a small part of the applicant pool. 90 percent of applicants had at least one of their parents complete a bachelor’s degree. This is true across the board for colleges of Georgetown’s caliber,” Deacon said.

Among newly accepted students, Latinos and blacks make up about 8 percent each, and about 15 percent are Asian-American. Foreign nationals make up 10 percent. 54 percent of applicants to the class of 2014 were white Americans.

Deacon noted a dramatic growth in the number of students applying from China, this year, adding that the pool of international applicants is led by Chinese, Korean, and British students.

Despite relative stability in Georgetown’s admissions numbers this year, increases in selectivity at peer universities were widespread. Harvard’s admit rate sunk to 6.9 percent, an all-time low for the school and the most competitive rate reported this year. The University of Chicago’s acceptance rate tightened the most among peer universities, decreasing by 8.8 percent, and The George Washington University’s acceptance rate dropped by 5 percent.

Read the original Saxaspeak post here.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1275255&forum_id=1#14638470)