Dartmouth Accepted 2,252 Students for the Class of 2017

The College offered admission to 2,252 students for the Class of 2017 out of a pool of 22,416, marking a 6 percent increase in the College’s acceptance rate to 10 percent from 9.4 percent last year. The total number of accepted students include the 464 admitted through the early decision process in December. The number of accepted applicants marks a noticeable increase from that of previous years. For the Class of 2016 and the Class of 2015, 2,180 applicants and 2,178 applicants were accepted, respectively.
The College plans on enrolling between 1,120 and 1,125 students in the fall and accepted 72 more students than in 2012 to facilitate this goal, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Maria Laskaris said.
“Class size has been creeping upwards over the past few years, so adding a few more students spread out over the entire campus won’t have a negative impact,” Laskaris said. “The admissions decisions process is excruciating, and it is good for us because of the difficult decisions we have to make.”
All other Ivy League schools, which also released admissions decisions Thursday, reported lower acceptance rates from those of the previous year. Dartmouth, the only Ivy to see an increase in acceptance rate, has the third highest rate in the Ivy League, below those of Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania.
In 2012, the total number of admitted students, including those admitted from the waitlist, was 2,260. The College decided this year to accept more students and take fewer from the waitlist, Laskaris said. The College waitlisted roughly 1,700 applicants, similar to last year.
The next few weeks will be crucial for maximizing the yield of accepted students, Laskaris said. Recruitment initiatives begin this weekend with three nights of phone-a-thons and other activities encouraging connection between faculty and current students. The admissions committee will focus on encouraging students to come to Dimensions and answering questions about financial aid. The process culminates with the Dimensions program from April 18 to 20.
“We haven’t done phone-a-thons in a while, but we’re reintroducing it because a lot of students don’t read emails,” Laskaris said. “Many acceptance letters included handwritten notes. We’re combining old school and new school in terms of how we’re reaching out. We’re using things from before that have been very successful and making connections very personal.”
Laskaris said the most important recruiting method is encouraging students and alumni to be vocal by sharing personal experiences on social media sites and tours and during Dimensions.
“The most important thing we will be doing is being honest and forthright with all the reasons we love Dartmouth,” Laskaris said. “We want to help students appreciate the opportunities and range of organizations and experiences both in and out of the classroom that Dartmouth has to offer.”
The events will highlight the academic opportunities, passionate and committed professors and extracurricular experiences that Dartmouth has to offer with the tag line “Do More.”
Accepted applicants to the Class of 2017 come from all 50 states. Nine percent are international, with increasing numbers of students from South America, Africa and the Middle East. Eleven percent are the first in their families to go to college, while legacies and recruited athletes each comprise about 9 percent of the admitted group.
This year, a record 48 percent of admitted students are students of color, including a record number of Asian-American and Native American students.
Forty percent of the admitted group are valedictorians and over 95 percent rank in the top 10 percent of their class. The mean SAT scores are 737 in critical reading, 741 in math and 741 in writing, according to Laskaris.
Roughly 68 percent of students admitted to Dartmouth qualified for need-based financial aid, and the College rewarded an average scholarship of about $40,000.
“We guarantee that we meet full demonstrated need of all students,” Laskaris said. “Although tuition has increased, with over two-thirds of students qualifying for financial aid, the cost to family will be less. We know it’s a concern for families, so we are being very proactive and reaching out to the financial aid recipients to make sure they understand their award and encourage them to share information with our staff.”
Dartmouth accepted 9.4 percent of applicants for the Class of 2016 and 9.7 percent of applicants for the Class of 2015.
All eight Ivy League institutions released admissions figures on Thursday. Harvard University accepted 5.8 percent of applicants, Yale University accepted 6.7 percent, Columbia University admitted 6.9 percent and Princeton University, Brown University, Penn and Cornell accepted 7.3 percent, 9.2 percent, 12.1 percent and 15.2 percent, respectively.
Prospective members of the Class of 2017 said they will consider Dartmouth for its strong academics, proximity to outdoor activities, tight-knit community, school spirit and welcoming environment.
Other considerations included financial aid, the small town setting and weather.
Montserrat Cordero, a prospective student accepted to the Class of 2017 who attends Colegio Calasanz in Costa Rica, said that Dartmouth is “still in the running” as he chooses what school to attend. He was accepted to Columbia and Yale and awaits a decision from Stanford University.
“As an international student, it was kind of hard looking at all the schools,” Cordero said. “There are tons of them and I’m not American, so the process is tough to understand. Besides having amazing academics, the tight-knit community made me feel very welcome, compared to other schools with similar academic qualities.”
Jake Kuhn, a prospective student from Buckingham Browne and Nichols School in Cambridge, Mass., will consider attending Dartmouth among a broad range of schools, including Brown, Bowdoin College and Pomona College.
One of Kuhn’s friends, a current student, convinced him to apply to the College.
“She said I should apply anyway and see what happened,” Kuhn said. “She said it is a great school and she could see me there. I definitely want to come visit to see what the student body is like and get a sense of the school spirit everyone talks about.”

http://thedartmouth.com/2013/03/29/news/admissions