Despite a record number of freshman applications this year, GW officials said the academic profiles of incoming students will remain the same.
Vice President of Student and Academic Support Services Robert Chernak said he does not anticipate an increase or decrease of 10 points in SAT scores from last year’s average of 1,240.
Chernak said many students with higher SAT scores and GPAs that are accepted to GW end up attending other colleges or universities. He said the University often rejects high school seniors with SAT scores above 1,400 because they will probably not attend GW.
“There’s a lot of self-selection that takes place,” Chernak said. “You could raise the profile, give more academic merit money, but sometimes students at the higher ranges won’t be happy (at GW).”
With 17,000 applications – about 1,000 more applications than last year – GW officials said they plan to have the lowest acceptance rate ever.
GW has also seen a 27 percent increase in the number of Early Decision I applications and a 22 percent increase in the number of Early Decision II applications this year, Chernak said.
He said the University accepted about 200 more early decision applications this year. According to the Admissions Office, this as a 35 percent increase from last year, when about 600 early decision applicants were taken.
Chernak also said the University is looking to continue to drop its acceptance rate, which was 48.5 percent last year
“For this year, we’re looking at the low 40s, maybe even lower,” Chernak said. “(Accepting fewer students) will benefit the school. Twenty-five to 30 schools have acceptance rates lower than 40 percent. We would be among the top 1 percent of schools in the country. Now, that’s still a little different than looking at academic quality.”
Student Association President Roger Kapoor said the University is taking a step in the right direction by lowering the acceptance rate.
“(Lowering the acceptance rate) would place us in a very elite group of schools,” Kapoor said. “For a long time GW has continually become a better and better school. If it is even around 40 percent, that would be great.”
Kapoor said he has seen a strong consensus among students that they want smaller classes and tougher admissions standards. GW plans to admit 2,250 students, which would bring the undergraduate population to about 9,500 students, not counting students who do not to return. When current seniors entered, the undergraduate population was 40 percent smaller – GW had 5,675 undergraduates in fall 1998, according to the GW Factbook.
Kapoor said GW officials have listened to student concerns voiced at the board of trustees meetings and agreed to wait-list more students.
Chernak said the University is committed to a larger waiting list to keep the incoming class at the desired 2,250 students, compared with last year’s unexpected 300 extra freshmen.
“(Last year) we didn’t really want a 2,500-person class,” Chernak said. “If it happens again, we’ll have to rethink our thinking for next year.”
Admissions Director Kathryn Napper declined through a secretary to comment on the admissions process and failed to answer questions posed over e-mail.
