As high school seniors across the country checked their inboxes, both Yale and Stanford announced record low acceptance rates for the class of 2013. While Stanford accepted 7.6% of its applicant pool, Yale accepted 7.5%. Both schools saw an increase in applications over last year.
Richard Shaw, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Stanford explains, “We expected a modest increase in interest in Stanford this year, but a volatile economy certainly made things unpredictable. We never imagined a 20 percent surge in applications. Our new financial aid programs, aimed at families with incomes below $100,000, have raised the level of awareness of Stanford. These enhancements, combined with a much more comprehensive global outreach effort, have increased the visibility of Stanford throughout the world.”
Unlike Stanford and Yale, Penn increased its overall acceptance rate, from 17.01% in 2008 to 17.11% in 2009. Of the 3,926 students who were accepted, 2,411 students were accepted to the College of Arts and Sciences, 837 to the School of Engineering and Applied Science, 544 to Wharton and 134 to the School of Nursing. Dean of Admissions, Eric Furda also noted “a marginal increase” in the quality of the applicant pool with the average SAT score increasing from 2160 in 2008 to 2175 in 2009.
