University admits half of class early

Dean of Admission Fred Hargadon announced yesterday that the University offered admission to 555 of 1,637 early decision applicants for the Class of 2002.

"They all looked good to me," Hargadon said of the quality of the 33.9 percent of applicants who were accepted.

Some of the 1,082 candidates not offered admission in the early decision process may still be accepted in the spring. "We'll end up admitting some of the people we deferred," Hargadon added.

Fifty-four percent of the 555 admitted are male and 46 percent are female, according to Hargadon. These percentages are the same as the current overall gender composition of the undergraduate population.

Aside from gender, Hargadon would not address the composition of the admitted students, saying that statistics regarding minorities, international students and median SAT scores would be released after the Class of 2002 is chosen in the spring.

"Somebody called and asked about SATs and I just said, 'They're healthy,' " Hargadon said, adding, "You always run the risk of scaring people with those numbers. Some people don't understand the idea of a median: Half the people are below it."

If the Class of 2002 follows the recent standards of class size, these early admission acceptances will comprise nearly half of the class.

This is the third year that the University employed the binding early decision policy.

"In some ways, early decision is really rational, because we're looking at applications of people who don't want to go elsewhere," Hargadon said.

Ivy comparisons

Statistics from peer institutions show similar admittance rates for early decision. However, Harvard University – which still uses an early action policy – was more selective than Princeton this winter.

Harvard admitted 25 percent of its applicants in their early action program, according to Assistant to the Director of Admissions Christine Kelly. She said 1,048 of 4,213 applicants were admitted, including 574 males and 474 females.

Boasting an all-time high for number of total applicants, the University of Pennsylvania received more than 16,520 applications. They admitted 780 of their 2,125 early decision applicants, said Assistant to the Dean of Admissions Heather Heard.

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Penn accepted 392 males and 388 females early decision; 52 of 206 international applicants were admitted; 214 minority students were accepted while 788 applied.

Dartmouth College received only 1,214 early decision applicants, but the school expects to receive more than 10,000 total applications, according to Rose Murphy, an assistant to the Dean of Admissions. Dartmouth offered admission to 433 of the early decision applicants – an admission rate of 35.7 percent.