Early applications to the School of Nursing and Health Studies more than doubled this year, driving a nearly 10 percent overall increase from last year in early applications to Georgetown.
Overall, more than 4,500 students have applied early to Georgetown between the four schools, compared to 4,051 last year, Charles Deacon, dean of undergraduate admissions, said. He said that this number may increase in the next few days as applications continue to trickle in. Applications had to be postmarked by Nov. 1.
The NHS, which received 156 early applications in 2005, has received 316 this year, Deacon said. He said that the school’s health studies major has become increasingly visible, which may have led to the jump in applications.
Deacon said that 2,587 students have submitted applications for the College, up from 2,326 in 2004. The number of applications to the McDonough School of Business and the School of Foreign Service have remained roughly steady since last year, he said.
Martyna Skowron (NHS ’09), a member of the NHS Academic Council, credited the increased applications to the council’s open houses for prospective students.
“They truly represent what the NHS has to offer,” Skowron said. “I think that’s increased the number of applications.”
Deacon said that the median SAT score for applicants was about the same as last year’s, while their average class rank was slightly higher than last year’s. He called the class “really strong academically.”
Deacon said that he expects the acceptance rate for early applicants to hover around 21 percent this year, with more students admitted early because the size of the applicant pool increased. He also expects the yield rate, or percentage of accepted students who choose to matriculate, to be the same as in previous years, at 55-60 percent.
The increase in students applying early to Georgetown could foreshadow a trend in upcoming years, Deacon said, because several top universities chose recently to end their early admissions programs. Harvard University announced in September that it would drop its single-choice early action program beginning next fall, and several other schools – including Princeton University and the University of Virginia – followed suit in the ensuing weeks.
Deacon said that he expects Yale University to also drop its early admissions program “in due course,” despite a statement by Yale President Richard Levin in September to the contrary.
Georgetown has no plan to drop its early admissions program, Deacon said.
“Frankly, the pool of prospective students out there is not larger,” Deacon said. “The question is, will they want to apply early? I feel like this could be an early indication for us of the number of early applications next year.”
Deacon said that Harvard’s decision may have slightly boosted Georgetown’s applications this year, as students “may be confused” about when the new policy takes effect.
Even as the number of schools with early admissions programs declines, prospective students still see advantages in applying before the general applicant pool. Sarah Riazati, a senior at Wheeler High School in Marietta, Ga., applied early to Georgetown because of her interest in the SFS, and to streamline the admissions process.
“I decided to apply early because I wanted to get everything out of the way,” Riazati said. “A lot of my friends are applying regular to Georgetown, and I wanted to stand out from them.”
