The number of undergraduate applicants to the University has increased by 1,000 to more than 14,300 this year, said Kathy Napper, director of undergraduate admissions.
“We will continue to rise as we get late applications, particularly from international students,” Napper said. “The quality of students are at least as good as last year.”
Napper said the increase is partially due to GW’s return to U.S. News & World Report‘s list of the nation’s top 50 universities and to the popularity of urban institutions.
This fall, GW received 750 early decision applications and accepted 383 students.
“This shows that a group of students really wanted to come to GW,” Napper said. “We’ll wait to see where we’ll end up. I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch.”
GW’s law school reported an increase of more than 20 percent from the number of applicants last year.
“We anticipate to receive over 6,500 (applications),” said Robert Stanek, assistant dean of admissions for the law school. “We will probably admit between 1,500 and 2,000.”
The law school, which mails decisions on a rolling basis, has been issuing decisions since December.
Stanek said the law school could not explain the increase in applications.
“Most law schools across the country are experiencing an increased volume,” he said.
Although the graduate programs in the Columbian School of Arts and Sciences are continuing to receive applications, projections show the number of applicants to be slightly down from last year.
“I don’t think (the tuition increase) has affected the number of applications,” said Christopher Sterling, CSAS associate dean for graduate studies. But Sterling said he could not speculate about the number of applications the school has received this year.
The graduate programs in the Elliott School of International Affairs reported modest increases in this year’s applicant pool.
Jeff Miles, director of graduate admissions for ESIA, said the school had a Feb. 1 deadline but still is accepting some late applications.
He said ESIA has received more than 1,100 applications and have planned for 217 students to matriculate next fall. Miles said overall the quality of students has risen dramatically since the mid-1980s.
