This year’s acceptance rate is expected to be the lowest in University history, officials said last week.

Out of the 19,450 applicants, GW has admitted 6,960, a 36 percent acceptance rate. Kathryn Napper, executive director of Undergraduate Admissions, said even if some students are admitted from the waitlist, she expects that the acceptance rate will be the lowest in the University’s history. Last year GW accepted 37 percent of students who applied.

“We are becoming more competitive in our admissions process,” Napper said in an e-mail to The Hatchet. “The biggest news about the class this year is that we will most likely establish the lowest admit rate for the class and will see an increase in academic quality.”

GW is to be expanding its geographical reach this year. More students were accepted from some southern and western states and fewer were accepted from areas on the East Coast, Napper said. There is an increase in admitted students from California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, North Carolina and Texas. GW admitted fewer students from Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Napper said.

The average admitted student this year had an SAT score of around 2000, out of a possible score of 2400, and ranked in the top 9 percent of students in its graduating class.

About 200 fewer students applied to GW through early decision this year, but the total number of applicants remained nearly constant.

The University’s admittance rate has steadily decreased over the school’s history, including a rate of 49 percent ten years ago and a 76 percent admittance rate in 1988.

GW has seen the most expansion in the number of students applying in areas that have regional admissions directors, The Hatchet reported last week. GW is one of few schools with such regional directors who help recruit high school students from around the country. GW has regional admissions officers in states including California, Georgia, Massachusetts and Illinois, among others.

-Brandon Butler contributed to this report.