Princeton Weekly Bulletin April 19, 1999
Most applied, fewest admitted to Class of '03
By admitting 1,600 of 14,874 applicants for the Class of 2003, Admission accepted only 10.8 percent of the largest applicant pool in University history according to Dean of Admission Fred Hargadon.
"It's the largest number of applicants and the smallest number of admits in the past 25 years," he said. Last year the University admitted 13.1 percent of applicants -- 1,700 out of 13,006.
Hargadon noted that 49 percent of admitted students are female and 51 percent are male, whereas 46.5 percent of current undergraduates are female. More than one third of admitted students indicated they are from a minority background. About 10 per cent are children of Princeton alumni.
Nine percent of the "Yes!" letters mailed April 8 were sent overseas to international students. Hargadon said the admission office admitted 150 students from 49 different countries this year.
Though percentages of admitted minorities, international students and females are higher than those of the current undergraduate student body, Hargadon said it remains to be seen how many will accept the offer.
Yield rate: 70 percent
The yield rate -- the percentage of admitted students who agree to attend the University -- determines how many people Hargadon and his office admit.
Because the yield rate has increased in recent years (last year it was almost 70 percent), "We admitted only 1,600, so as not to enroll a freshman class over 1,150," Hargadon explained. "If the yield this year doesn't go over 70 percent, that will allow us to offer admission to at least some of the applicants on our wait list."
He added that the increase in applicants can be attributed in part to the financial aid initiative introduced this year, which was designed to make Princeton more affordable for middle and low income families. "It's partly because of the publicity over our financial aid," he said. "Of course, a number of other schools followed Princeton's lead and expanded their own financial aid programs."
The effects of financial aid changes will also depend on whether admitted low-income students believe their families can afford Princeton. "If financial aid is going to make a difference, it's going to be in how many such students accept us," Hargadon said.
More than half of this year's applicants had SAT scores above 1400, and more than 4,300 had grade point averages of 4.0, Hargadon noted.