The folks in the admissions offices at Harvard and Princeton thought they were trend setters. In 2007, these Ivy League competitors abandoned their early admissions applications, on accusations that the process catered only to those students from privileged backgrounds, while ignoring equally qualified students from more humble upbringings. They made their announcements within an hour of each other, an indication of the behind-closed-doors discussions that led to the ultimate decision.
The ploy fell through, however, when none of their competitors followed this pattern (with the exception of the University of Virginia). Five years later, these institutions have realized their mistake and have resurrected their early admission programs, causing quite a shakeup in the entire Ivy League admissions process.
As the chart suggests, the added competition resulted in a decrease in applications for the majority of Ivy League schools (and other competitors). Yale saw the most dramatic decrease, receiving nearly 1,000 fewer applicants then last year. Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, M.I.T. and Stanford also saw decreases.
“Though it is impossible to identify all of the factors that influence early admissions numbers, it is clear that the policies this year are allowing students to sort themselves out more among schools,” remarked Yale Dean of Admissions Jeffrey Brenzel to the Yale Daily News. Brenzel highlighted the fact that early applications are up 20% from 2011, the last time that Harvard and Princeton offered early admission programs.
University of Pennsylvania has also seen an increase since 2006. This year’s drop, however, marked the school’s first decline since 2008-2009, with 26% growth in early applications between 2009 and 2011, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian.
Cornell, Brown, and Dartmouth saw modest increases, perhaps an indication that these schools do not directly compete with the other Ivy League institutions.
Cornell received the fourth highest number of early application, behind only Harvard, U. Penn, and Yale.
Could this be caused in part by other factors, such as economic conditions, or disillusionment that Obama, Bush, Kerry, Gore et al all went to Harvard and or Yale? Might be worth running a covariance analysis or something.
College acceptances come out thursday! Wish me luck!