1997_04 The Daily Collegian April 1997

              THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Tuesday, April 1, 1997
News
News Editor: Matthew Hart
Telephone: (209) 278-2556
Ivy League Schools see decline in applications
By Shannon Burke
The Daily Pennsylvanian/
University of Pennsylvania   v
. PHILADELPHIA — Fewer stu¬
dent.*? applied to the Ivy League this
year, with every institution — ex¬
cept Columbia University — re¬
porting a decline in applications for
the class of 2001.
Applications to Penn dropped
2.7 percent from last year's high of
15.771. with 15.553 students seek¬
ing spots in the class of 2001. But
this is a minor decline compared to
those experienced by most of the
Ivy League.
Penn Admissions Dean Lee
Stetson said he was "encouraged"
by the fact that the decrease was
only minor — adding that applica¬
tions lend to fall substantially when
institutions are plagued by crime
problems like Penn experienced
this year.
Meanwhile, applications to Co¬
lumbia increased approximately 9
percent this year. Columbia's Direc¬
tor of Admissions Eric Furda had
noted in the past that the admissions
office is emphasizing the
university's location in New York
City.
He speculated that more students
are applying to Columbia because
they are attracted to its urban envi¬
ronment.
Brown received 14.841 applica¬
tions this year, down from 15.012
last year, according lo the
university's admissions office. This
represents a decrease of about I
percent, which admissions offices
called "negligible "
Cornell University's admissions
office estimated that it received
19.800 applications, a 5 percent
decrease from nearly 21.000 last
year.
Cornell Admissions Dean
Donald Salch said the university
keeps a benchmark of 20,000 ap¬
plications, which lends to ensure a
solid pool.
He noted that the number ol ap¬
plicants remained near the bench¬
mark this year, and said early indi¬
cations arc that the quality of the
applicant pool did not decline.
Approximately 10.700 students
applied to Dartmouth College this
year, a 6 percent decline from the
11.3X9 who applied last year.
'The decrease in applications
represents a minor market correc¬
tion and is nothing specific to
Dartmouth," Dartmouth Admis¬
sions Dean Karl Furstenbcrg said.
Furstcnberg said students may
have been intimidated because elite
institutions have received record
numbers of applications in the past
few years and. as a result, have be¬
come increasingly selective.
Applications to Harvard Univer¬
sity decreased 8 percent from
18.183 for the class of 2000 to
16,700 for 2001.
But officials in the admissions
o^icc noted that this year's appli¬
cant pool is still the third largest in
Harvard's history, and that applica¬
tions increased 49 percent since
1991.
Harvard admissions officials
suggested that applications to many
• top schools declined this year be¬
cause students are being more real¬
istic in evaluating their chances of
acceptance.
The Princeton University admis¬
sions office estimated it received
13,500 applications, a 9 percent
decrease from last year's pool of
approximatlcy 15,(KK) applications.
Applications to Yale University
also fell — by 8 percent from
12,952 applicants for the class of
2(XK) to 11.940 this year.
Yale admissions officers specu¬
lated that last year, when published
mean Scholastic Aptitude Test sta¬
tistics did not reflect the re-center¬
ing of SAT scores, underqualilicd
students may have considered
themselves competitive for admis¬
sion to top schools.'
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to devote to your newfound luck? Forget about that long four, five, six . . . year struggle. You can avoid
the long graduation lines and $35 application fee. Just fill in the blanks, and viola! You're a graduate!
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