Number of high school applicants falls slightly

The university saw a slight drop in the number of high school students who applied this year, despite record-setting application rates at other Washington-area universities.

Although more than 25,500 students — the third highest number in university history — applied by the priority deadline, and more than 10,500 students were accepted, the university had seen higher numbers in previous years, said Karen Felton, senior associate director of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

Johns Hopkins University saw a 13 percent increase in applications over the last year, and the University of Richmond experienced a 9 percent increase.

The applicants, who were notified by the end of January, were the first to attempt to gain admittance to the university using a new application form that officials say may have contributed to the dip in applicants, despite its intent.

"We made several important changes to our freshman application this year that dramatically [changed] the number of completed applications we received," Felton wrote in an e-mail. "For example, we condensed the application from two parts into one, introduced new essay questions, and made the entire application easier to submit electronically."

When the new application was unveiled, university administrators touted the ease in the new one-step process.

Despite slightly lower preliminary numbers, officials expect to enroll a freshman class of 4,075 students for the fall 2010 semester.

Felton said although the majority of freshmen who were admitted are drawn from the group of students who met the university's primary deadline of Nov. 1, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions is now beginning to review the applications from students who applied by the regular Jan. 20 deadline.

Those students will receive notification of their acceptance or rejection in early April. All accepted students have until May 1 to confirm their enrollment.

Because the university has two deadlines, Felton said it is too early to offer final numbers on the demographic or geographic breakdown of the class of 2014. However, preliminary information is available on the students who applied by the priority deadline.

"Our overall acceptance rate for students who applied by [the Nov. 1 deadline] was 41.5 percent," Felton wrote. "The acceptance rate for in-state applicants was 42.7 percent, and 40 percent for out-of-state applicants."

Because the Office of Undergraduate Admissions won't have any information regarding the status of students who have been put on the university's waitlist until later in the semester, officials may not have a sense of the total number of confirmed students until mid-summer, Felton said.

Although the preliminary numbers were slightly lower than last year's, officials remain optimistic about the total number of applicants the university received.

"We are excited that we continue to attract, and enroll, increasing numbers of highly talented and accomplished students each year," Felton wrote.

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