Georgetown Received 20,050 Applications for the Class of 2016

Over 13,000 regular decision applications from Georgetown hopefuls flooded the Office of Undergraduate Admissions this winter, and pending finalization of data, the university expects a record 20,050 applications for the Class of 2016.
This year's record numbers mark a 4.2 percent increase from last year's pool of 19,228 total applicants. Earlier in the admissions cycle, the university also saw a record 6,750 early action applications, up 1.4 percent from 6,658 applications to the Class of 2015.
"I think when we look back at this year we'll see, for lack of a better term, that we probably got a little bigger market share of the top students," Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Charles Deacon said.
Each of the four undergraduate schools experienced a significant spike in applications this year. According to early estimates, the College received roughly 12,000 applications, up 2.5 percent from last year; the School of Foreign Service received 3,600 applications, up 5.6 percent; the McDonough School of Business drew 3,100 applications, up 5.5 percent; and the School of Nursing and Health Studies received 1,200 applications, up 4.3 percent.
Deacon stressed that Georgetown has not consciously made any changes intended to boost its application numbers and thereby decrease its acceptance rate.
"We're definitely not aiming for 30,000 applications," Deacon said. "How would you be able to do what I call a ‘holistic admissions process?'"
Despite this year's jump, Deacon and the admissions committee expect application rates to plateau in future years because of shifting demographics. According to Deacon, the population of potential applicants had been growing for about 15 years, but the trend has leveled off.
"This appears to be a peaking out year," he said.
Out of the roughly 20,050 total applications received this year, 6,833 came through the early action program. In December, Georgetown admitted 1,012 students to the Class of 2016, 100 fewer students than were admitted early last year, bringing the early action acceptance rate down to 14.8 percent from last year's rate of about 16 percent.
Georgetown, one of the few universities in the country that has a lower acceptance rate for its early pool than its regular decision pool, had an overall acceptance rate last year of 18 percent.
According to Deacon, many top schools, such as the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University, lock in nearly half of their freshman class during the early round of applications. Harvard, which reinstituted its early action option this year, accepted 21 percent of applicants from its early pool, a number much higher than its overall acceptance rate of under 7 percent.
According to Deacon, Georgetown is more selective during the early application process.
"We only accept the best students early," he said.
Deacon added that the admissions office expects the surge in applications to be accompanied by an increase in the yield rate, the percent of accepted students who decide to attend Georgetown. Last year's yield rate of 48.5 percent marked an increase over previous years, which had fluctuated between 42 and 47 percent.
"This year we might get a 50 percent overall yield rate, which we haven't done since we started competing with the other top schools," Deacon said.

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