Elite universities across the country and in America’s foremost college town broke admissions records again this spring, accepting a lower percentage of students than ever before in an increasingly accomplished applicant pool.
Although acceptance rates at universities remained at 70 percent nationwide, gaining entry into top colleges has become harder than ever, according to an April 4 New York Times article.
Harvard College’s incoming freshman class broke a school record, admitting fewer than 9 percent of all applicants for a total of 2,058 students. The number is fewer than the 3,200 and 2,500 students who applied to the university with perfect SAT math and verbal scores, respectively.
Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn said more elite schools are forced to reject students because colleges are accepting the same number of students while there is a record-high number of high school graduates.
Almost all the students BC accepted this spring were A students in high school and graduated in the top 10 percent of their classes, Dunn said. He predicted, however, the number of applicants will decline within seven to 10 years because he thinks fewer students will apply.
“The past few years have been the most competitive years in college throughout the U.S.,” he said, adding colleges’ efforts to add diversity creates tougher competition when schools favor international and minority students. “This competition is nationally driven by demographics.”
Boston University accepted more minority students than ever before, said Kelly Walter, executive director of the BU Admissions office. Seventeen percent described themselves as Asian, 7.5 percent as Hispanic and 3 percent as African-American.
“We often find ourselves pressed to increase diversity,” Walter said.
Though not as selective as Ivy League universities, BU has joined the ranks of choosier schools, admitting 18,339 of 33,918 — 54 percent — of applicants after admitting 73 percent 10 years ago.
“I definitely think the level of competition has risen,” Walter said, “and I still think we are heading the direction we should be.”
The average SAT score for incoming BU freshmen was 1965 of a possible 2400 points, while the average grade-point average was 3.56.
At Tufts University, the school’s admission rate stayed consistent with last year’s, according to a Tufts Daily article to which university officials directed The Daily Free Press. The school accepted about 27 percent of almost 15,300 applicants the past two years, and the mean SAT score grew by seven points, from 1433, verbal and math, to 1440.