Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Early Applications Stable, Diversity Up

The early action applicant pool for the Class of 2018 is more diverse than in years past, with white applicants dropping from 59 percent in 2011 to 56 percent this year.

According to Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Charles Deacon (CAS ’64, GRD ’69), this is a significant trend, particularly for this phase.

“The early pool is more likely to favor the more traditional applicant,” Deacon said. “I would say the fact that we’re getting an increasingly diverse early pool is a good thing.”

After seeing an increase in early applications for several years, the number of early applicants to the Class of 2018 remained mostly unchanged from last year, with 6,569 early applications processed so far compared to the 6,565 processed at this time in 2012.

“Happily, things are the same. We would have predicted, by all expectations, that [the number of applications] would be going down,” Deacon said.

Deacon expects that the total number of early applications will be between 6,700 and 6,800, staying about even with the 6,840 early action applications to the Class of 2017, 880 of which were ultimately accepted.

Distribution across three of the four undergraduate schools has remained mostly static as well.

Little change was seen in the geographic distribution of early applicants, despite the fact that the largest drop in college-bound students occurred in the Northeast, traditionally a major source of Georgetown applicants.

“Early numbers tend to skew a little toward places that are ready to apply early, which tend to be more likely in the more affluent communities in the Northeast,” Deacon said.

The School of Nursing and Health Studies was the only school to experience a decline in applicants, a break from recent trends. The NHS has received 457 early applicants to the Class of 2018, as compared with the 502 applications processed at this point last year.

“It’s nothing to be alarmed about,” Deacon said.

SAT scores of early applicants have remained largely unchanged from the previous year’s critical reading and mathematics median scores of 700 to 770.

Deacon anticipates offering admission to about 950 applicants from the early action pool for an acceptance rate of about 15 percent.

“We really review and rate to admit, not to deny,” he said.

The stability in the number of early applications was good news for Georgetown, as the number of college-bound students has been decreasing nationally since 2010, with the largest decline among white students. However, growth in the number of minority students, especially those of Hispanic descent, is offsetting this trend.

“Don’t expect the numbers to go up, be happy if they don’t go down and look at the quality of who is actually there,” Deacon said.

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