Georgetown’s number of early admissions applicants for the Class of 2019 remained steady this year, continuing the trend of little to no change in the early applicant pool over the past four years.

As of Saturday morning, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions had received 6,624 applications for the Nov. 1 early action deadline, and the office expects to see more in the next few days, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Charles Deacon said. Since Nov. 1 fell on a Saturday this year, Georgetown will continue to accept applications mailed via postal service and postmarked Nov. 1 through the beginning of this week.

“I’m guessing it’ll come out to be almost exactly what it was last year, maybe a little ahead,” Deacon said.

The current 6,624 early action applications number is slightly lower than last year’s 6,749 early applicants for the Class of 2018, although exact comparisons will not be determined until all applications are received by mail this week. The number of early action applications peaked with 6,840 in 2013 for the Class of 2017, following 6,831 in 2012 for the Class of 2016 and 6,655 in 2011 for the Class of 2015.

More information about the breakdown of this year’s early action applicants will be available when all applications have been received.

Georgetown offers an early action application, which is non-binding and allows high school students to apply early to other universities that also offer early action options. Applicants will receive news of acceptance or deferral to the regular-decision cycle — with no rejections in the early action round — on Dec. 15. Applicants will have until May 1 to choose whether to enroll at Georgetown.

Last year, 955 out of 6,749 early applicants were accepted to the Class of 2018.

Out of 19,501 total applicants for the Class of 2018, 2,227 applicants were accepted regular decision. The total acceptance rate for the current freshman class, combining early action and regular decision, was 16.6 percent, with a yield of 46 percent.

Deacon expects the Class of 2019’s total acceptance rate to be about 17 percent, and the early action acceptance rate to be no more than 17 percent. The Office of Admissions will again aim for a 1,580-student freshman class, keeping the total number of undergraduates under 6,675, as is dictated in the 2010 Campus Plan Agreement.

The number of early action applications acts as a predictor for the overall number of applications to come, making up an average of about 34 percent of total applications. This year’s early applications predict an overall applicant pool between 19,000 and 20,000, consistent with the last four years, Deacon said. Last year, Georgetown had 19,501 total applicants.

“You can basically predict the overall pool based on how many early actions you have. So if that holds true, unless there’s some big aberration, that means once we have that number we’ll be able to project the overall pool,” Deacon said.

Deacon pointed to declining numbers of high school graduates nationwide since 2010 as a factor in the number of college applicants nationwide and to Georgetown.

In light of declining high school graduation rates, thus producing fewer college applicants, Deacon said that he would consider Georgetown’s steady number of applicants to be a success.

“For us, staying even is actually, we think, getting ahead,” he said.

Demographically, high school graduation rates are falling among non-Hispanic whites and increasing among Hispanics. According to a Pew Research Center analysis in May 2013 based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, a record high of 69 percent of Hispanic graduates in the Class of 2012 enrolled in college that fall, two points above the 67 percent of graduating non-Hispanic white students enrolling. This upward trend in Hispanic enrollment reflects a corresponding upward trend in Hispanics graduating high school. In 2011, 14 percent of Hispanics between the ages of 16 and 24 were high school dropouts, a marked reduction from 28 percent in 2000. The non-Hispanic white population saw only a 2-point reduction in high school dropouts from 2000 to 2011.

Deacon said that he hopes Georgetown will be able to attract more Hispanic applicants this year.

He added that Georgetown’s widespread visibility helps to maintain the university’s even application rates.

“We began the year saying that if we could maintain the same number that would be a successful numeric number,” Deacon said. “So far, so good.”

Final early admissions numbers will be available later this week. Regular decision applications are due Jan. 10, and applicants will be notified on April 1.