Boston University accepted slightly more than 45 percent of applicants for the Class of 2016, marking a decrease from last year’s acceptance rate, officials said.
Kelly Walter, executive director of admissions, said BU’s acceptance rate marks a nearly 4-percent drop from the acceptance rate in spring 2012.
BU received a record-breaking applicant pool for the fall 2012 semester with 43,979 applications for admission, Walter said.
Although Admissions did not provide the exact number of applicants admitted, the total number of applicants and percentage accepted indicate slightly less than 20,000 students were accepted.
Students accepted for the Fall 2012 semester come from all 50 states, as well as D.C., Guam and Puerto Rico, Walter said.
Regular-decision applicants were notified of BU’s decisions via the Applicant Link Saturday.
”This is an admit rate of which we should all be proud,” Walter said. “This is a reflection of Boston University’s growing reputation, our growing prestige and our position in the marketplace.”
Walter said the value in students’ degrees is “increasing exponentially” as BU increases its selectivity and matriculates stronger classes.
BU has a target class of 3,900 students – smaller than the Class of 2015 – Walter said. Of those accepted early decision, 505 students committed.
A number of students were offered admission for spring 2013 instead of the fall semester.
“Because our pool was so large and so strong we made a decision to offer a number of students a place in our class, but for January,” Walter said. “Rather than having these students reapply for January, we’re giving them the option to begin their studies in the January semester.”
Kelly Hallowell, a high school senior from Eden Prairie, Minn., was accepted into the College of Arts and Sciences. Hallowell said BU was in the top half of schools to which she applied.
“I was really excited [when I got my acceptance],” Hallowell said. “It was the first one I heard back from so it’s kind of exciting, a good way to start a morning.”
While Hallowell has other colleges to consider, she said she liked Boston’s atmosphere and the opportunities BU has for undergraduates.
Walter said she noticed students announcing their decisions and discussing the results on Twitter.
“Twitter was so popular on Saturday morning and throughout the day when we were releasing our decisions that we were actually trending in Boston, which is almost unheard of for a college or university to get that kind of traffic,” Walter said.
Brett Trumbauer, a high school senior from Barto, Pa., was accepted into the College of Engineering. Trumbauer said he was confident he would be accepted into BU despite the rise in competition.
“I was pretty glad [when I got in] because it was one of the better schools that I got into,” Trumbauer said. “Actually, it is the best school I got into.”
Gina Curreri contributed to the reporting of this article.
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