College Admissions: Who Really Gets in to Ivy League Schools

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Cristiana Quinn, GoLocal College Admissions Expert

What were the best routes to the Ivy League this year?

Ivy League admission statistics have been released for the Class of 2016. And the while acceptance rates don’t differ significantly from last year, the profile of the entering classes is eye opening. A strikingly high percentage are valedictorians, many are students of color, a significant percentage are first generation students, quite a few are international, and the children of alumni still make up a generous portion of the entering freshmen.

3.8% Get into Harvard Regular Decision

With the reinstatement of early action this year, Harvard reached a record low overall acceptance rate of 5.9% (the regular decision acceptance rate was just 3.8%). 1,260 students were accepted during the regular decision round, and 772 students were admitted during the newly reinstated early action plan. The group is a diverse one; just over 10% of the accepted class is African American, 11% are Hispanic, and 12% are Native American. According to the University, approximately 20% of Harvard students are international.

At Dartmouth 60% are 1st in Class

Dartmouth received 23,110 applications this year and accepted just 2,180 students for a record-low acceptance rate of 9.4 percent. International students make up just over 9% of the admitted pool, 61% are valedictorians or salutatorians 46% are students of color, over 11% are first generation college students, and approximately 9% percent are the children of Dartmouth alumni.

16% of Brown Admits are 1st Generation

Brown received a total of 28,742 applications and accepted 2,760 students. Applications were up for early decision, but down for regular decision. This year the regular decision admission rate was 8.5 percent (up slightly from 2011) and the overall acceptance rate was 9.6 percent. 47% of the admitted freshman class are valedictorians or salutatorians, 53% are female and 16% are the first generation in their families to attend college. Students from 80 nations were admitted, with the highest number coming from China, Canada, Korea, India, and the United Kingdom.

Princeton Hits Record Low 7.9% Admit Rate

Like Harvard, Princeton re-instated an early admission program this year. They received 3,443 early applications, and accepted 21%. The overall 2012 admission rate was 7.9 percent, the lowest in Princeton’s history. Among those admitted, 97% are in the top 10% of their class, 12% are international students, 47% are students of color, 12.5% percent are first generation college students, and 9.5 percent the sons and daughters of Princeton alumni.

Other Ivy League Stats:

Yale’s overall acceptance rate was 6.8 percent, which is the lowest in the history of the university.

Cornell received a record number of early decision applications, and accepted 32.7%, filling a whopping 37% of the entering freshman class before Christmas. Overall, they admitted 16.2% percent of applicants, making this the most competitive year in the history of the university.

UPenn remained stable this year, accepting 12.3% of applicants. They experienced a drop in early decision applicants, most likely due to the reinstatement of early admission plans at Harvard and Princeton.

Columbia’s overall admission rate was 7.4 percent. This was a .5 % increase from the Class of 2015 when the university saw a huge surge in applications after joining the Common App.

Cristiana Quinn, M.Ed. is the founder of College Admission Advisors, LLC which provides strategic, college counseling and athletic recruiting services for students. http://www.collegeadvisorsonline.com/.