With the passing of the May 1 deadline for high school seniors’ college decisions, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions has seen an increase in the number of admitted students accepting their places at Georgetown.

This year’s higher yield means the university has admitted fewer students from the waitlist, offering admission to 99 students so far compared to more than 200 last year, according to Charles Deacon, dean of undergraduate admissions. In 2008, 80 applicants were accepted off the waitlist; the year before that, 20 were admitted off the waitlist, and in 2006, 60 students.

Though final yield figures will not be available until the fall, as students still need to respond to waitlist acceptances at Georgetown and other schools, Deacon said he believes the commitment rate will improve.

“Early returns suggest that we will probably end up accepting 100 to 150 fewer than last year to enroll the same size class so the yield will likely be better by 1 to 2 percent, but we won’t know for sure until the end,” Deacon said this was reflective of the university’s appeal to accepted students.

“The yield has improved even though the competition among schools is higher than ever and the economic issues families face still remain,” Deacon said.

Yield rates have also remained high at other colleges. Harvard College’s rate is above 75 percent this year, and it will admit as many as 75 students off the waitlist. Dartmouth College’s yield was 55 percent, and there may not be room to accept any waitlisted students. The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill offered 350 spots to waitlisted students this year, according to The New York Times. No peer schools have experienced a serious decline in their yield rate, despite the economic downturn limiting some students’ ability to pay tuition.

There was also a notable jump in the number of black students who have accepted their offers of admission at Georgetown. This year, 135 students chose to attend Georgetown compared to 101 from last year. 8 percent of the accepted students this year were African-American. In contrast, 9 to 10 percent of last year’s accepted students were African-American.

Deacon said this increase could be due to the increased number of scholarships available from the Georgetown Scholarship Program. Over 70 percent of the students offered GSP scholarships are first-generation college students. Last year, the GSP offered 50 scholarships to incoming freshmen, but this year, there are 150 available, according to Deacon. The students who were offered these scholarships have a higher yield rate than the rest of the applicant pool.

“Increased fundraising through the 1789 Scholarship Imperative and the Georgetown Fund for this program will be a major factor in our ability to continue to improve the diversity of the class and the yield on admissions offers in the years ahead,” Deacon said.

The 1789 Scholarship Imperative, launched in 2009, aims to raise $500 million in funding for GSP by 2014. One can donate to the 1789 Scholarship Imperative through the Georgetown Fund. Seventy percent of the class of 2010 that donated to the Georgetown Fund chose to direct funds toward improving financial aid.

Deacon also noted that one or more admitted students from every state except North Dakota have accepted their spots in the Class of 2014, in addition to students from 46 different foreign countries.”