ADMISSIONS Admission to Class of 2006 Most Competitive to Date By Roxanne Tingir Hoya Staff Writer

The number of applicants for the class of 2006 reached an all-time high of 15,534 students despite the Sept. 11 attacks, according to admissions statistics published earlier this month.

According to Dean of Undergraduate Admission Charles Deacon, this year’s applicant pool was the most competitive yet and was only minimally affected by recent terrorist attacks.

“The initial question was if people would be afraid to come to Washington or realize they wanted to stay closer to home,” he said. “Both could have had major impacts, but we’re still at a record high,” Deacon said. “[Sept. 11] does not seem, in terms of gross numbers, to have had a major effect.”

The 3,012 accepted students were selected from applicants representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and 116 foreign countries, according to the April 2002 Alumni Admissions Program newsletter.

With a 19.4 percent admission rate, 87.9 percent of the class of 2006 admitted was in the top 10 percent of its high school class.

The fallout of Sept. 11 may have had the most direct impact on the School of Foreign Service’s applicant pool. The SFS experienced an 18 percent increase in applications, with 2,295 applicants as opposed to last year’s 1,942.

“There has been a perceptual increase in an idealistic view of the world and the need to be involved,” Deacon said. “There were a lot of essays about the need to engage the world,” he said regarding admissions essays.

The School of Nursing and Health Studies also saw a dramatic 40 percent increase in the number of applicants, jumping from 276 to 389. The numbers for the College and McDonough School of Business remained relatively consistent.

The total number of prospective students increased one percent over last year’s pool, following an eight percent rise in applicants the previous year.

Assistant Vice President for Communications Julie Green Bataille said she agreed that Georgetown admissions have seen virtually no negative effects since Sept. 11.

“There was a slight increase in the number who applied early and that was certainly very encouraging,” she said. “There was also an increase in the number of interested students coming to campus to go on tours,” Green Bataille added.

The numerical increase of the applicant pool has not hindered its quality, according to admissions statistics. The middle 50 percent of SAT verbal and math scores fell between 660 and 750 for admitted students, 722 of who were class valedictorians.

Both Green Bataille and Deacon agreed that the effects of Sept. 11 will be felt more definitively on May 1, when students have to accept or decline their offers of admission.

“We will really see if there has been any impact in May when students make their final decisions,” Green Bataille said.

“We don’t have any reason to believe at this time that students would have any problem about studying at Georgetown. We’re very optimistic,” she said.