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Newsvine2,400 — the number normally associated with a perfect SAT score — took on a new meaning Friday when the Office of Admission announced that 2,400 students were offered admission to the Class of 2012.
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The prospective freshmen, 738 of whom were admitted early in December, were selected from an applicant pool of 25,298 — the largest in Stanford’s history. Also earning a spot in the University’s record books is the record-low 9.5 percent acceptance rate for this year’s admission cycle.
“The competition for admission to Stanford this year was unprecedented,” said Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Richard Shaw in a press release. “As expected, the academic strengths, talent and impact outside the classroom of this group is astonishing. They are distinguished on a global scale.”
According to Shaw, international students comprise 8.1 percent of the admitted pool, with Korea holding the largest representation. Students from all 50 U.S. states were admitted.
To determine how many students will be admitted, the admission office studies the rates at which Stanford admits have accepted the offers of admission over a four-year period. Known as “yield,” these rates have steadily increased, creeping into the 70 percent range for the Class of 2011.
“This year is a bit more difficult to predict because of one-cycle processes at Princeton and Harvard,” Shaw said in an email to The Daily, referring to the end of early admission cycles at the two Ivy League schools.
Director of Admission Shawn Abbott also attributed the difficulty of predicting this year’s yield to financial aid reforms at top universities.
“Of course, we are shooting for a yield comparable to last year — our record-breaking 70 percent,” Abbott said in an email to The Daily. “But Harvard and Princeton’s move to cut their early programs and the new financial aid initiatives at Harvard and Yale may affect that goal.”
Shaw noted that the admission office was cautious to avoid forming too large a class, such as the Class of 2011, which is comprised of 1,745 students.
“Clearly, we needed to be very aware [that] we could not have another year where our incoming class is too large,” he said. “We would rather be slightly short of enrollment target and go to wait list than to be over.”
Approximately 6 percent of applicants were offered a space on the wait list, according to Abbott.
Changes to this year’s admission cycle included a new application deadline of Jan. 1, pushed back from mid-December, as well as a requirement that applicants fill out the Common Application and Stanford supplement. The Financial Aid Office also bolstered its offerings in February, announcing free tuition for families earning less than $100,000 each year and free tuition, room, board and fees for families earning less than $60,000 each year.
“We hope that many of those who have been admitted will benefit from Stanford’s new financial aid programs, which should enable us to attract an even more socio-economically diverse freshman class,” Shaw said in the press release.
According to Shaw, the admitted pool for the Class of 2012 also includes 431 students who will be the first in their families to attend a four-year college or university.