BROWN admits 2,187 of 20,604 for Class of 2012

U. admits 13.3 percent, setting a new record
Joanna Wohlmuth
Issue date: 4/2/08
The University set a record low admission rate of 13.3 percent Monday, admitting 2,187 applicants through regular decision.
The increase in the number of applicants made this year's admissions process the most competitive the University has ever seen, said Dean of Admission James Miller '73. A total of 20,604 applications were read for regular and early decision admissions slots, an 8 percent increase over last year's pool of 19,059.
"This was the most difficult year to be admitted in history, statistically," Miller said.
Among those applicants beating the odds was Sydney Ember, who was visiting relatives in Connecticut over her high school's spring break when she tried to log on to the admissions Web site around 5:15 p.m. on Monday night.
"I could not figure out the Brown Web site," Ember said. "I spent 20 minutes thinking I had the wrong password."
After locating the proper page, the senior at the Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood, Calif., learned of her admission to the class of 2012.
"I'm really excited," she said. "I'm pretty sure about (attending) Brown."
Between 12,000 and 14,000 applicants logged onto the site on Tuesday night, Miller said. The rest are expected to go on over the next few days or wait until the official letter comes in the mail.
Though the University admitted around 2,700 students - 555 of them through early decision - it expects about 1,500 students will matriculate, Miller said.
The CIS Help Desk had staff on hand to help applicants who had trouble using the admissions site. "Right when the decisions are released people are panicking because they can't find the sheet we sent them with their username and password," said Help Desk Consultant Erick Olson '10. "Most problems are on the user side, not with the Brown site."
The majority of the calls come in a "sudden rush" within three hours of the release, Olson said, requiring additional staff at the Help Desk.
Other selective schools ­- including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia and Dartmouth - also received record numbers of applications and admitted fewer students than ever this year.
After eliminating its early action program and revamping financial aid, Harvard admitted 7.1 percent of applicants in order to avoid over-enrollment, and may admit more students from their wait list than usual, Harvard's dean of admission told the Harvard Crimson. Yale admitted 8.3 percent of applicants. Applicants faced stiff competition at Stanford, where 9.5 percent were admitted. Columbia admitted 8.7 percent of applicants, and Dartmouth 13.2 percent.