Stanford admitted 2,138 students to the Class of 2018 in this year’s admissions cycle, producing – at 5.07 percent – the lowest admit rate in University history.
The University received a total of 42,167 applications this year, a record total and a 8.6 percent increase over last year’s figure of 38,828. Stanford accepted 748 students in December through the Office of Undergraduate Admission’s restrictive early action program and extended offers to 1,390 more applicants on March 28. A further 958 students have been placed on the waitlist.
Fewer students were admitted to the Class of 2018 than the Class of 2017, due to the increase in Stanford’s yield rate which has increased over 5 percent in the past four years, according to Colleen Lim M.A. ’80, Director of Undergraduate Admission. The decreased acceptance rate is due to fewer students being admitted from an increased application pool.
“Stanford’s reputation of excellence around the globe has most certainly impacted our application numbers,” Lim said. “As an example, on Wednesday, March 26, we posted a blog on our admission page to announce our decision release date – in less than two days, the admissions blog has been visited by 9,166 people from 116 countries and all 50 states.”
Richard Shaw, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, spoke of the uniqueness of the class, which features students from 50 states and 71 countries.
“Of course the beauty of these young people is that they truly represent the broad and deep diversity of the world,” Shaw said.
This year’s admit rate continues a trend of increasing selectivity in the University’s admissions process. The University extended offers to 5.7 percent of applicants in 2013, 6.6 percent in 2012 and 7.1 percent in 2011.
By March 28, a number of peer institutions had also released their acceptance rates for the Class of 2018.
Like Stanford, four of the Ivy League colleges — namely Yale, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell — reported their lowest admissions rates yet of 6.3, 7.3, 9.9, and 14 percent respectively. Meanwhile, Harvard and Columbia reported slightly increased acceptance rates of 5.9 and 6.9 percent respectively.
Admitted students have until May 1 to accept the University’s offer.