The early decision acceptance rate inched up by nearly 4 percentage points this year, as the University admitted 41 percent of early applicants.
A total of 2,331 students applied early decision – on par with last year’s applicant pool, when the acceptance rate stood at 37.5 percent. The University admitted 36 percent of early applicants in 2011 and a similar rate in 2010.
Forrest Maltzman, vice provost for academic affairs and planning, said the figures fluctuate slightly as international students complete financial and immigration paperwork.
Maltzman added that this year GW saw “a modest increase in the number of applications to the engineering school,” though students are not required to list their potential majors.
“The interest in our science and engineering programs reflects the quality of our programs in these areas and the fact that Washington provides great opportunities for those interested in science and engineering, as well as the humanities and social sciences,” Maltzman wrote in an email Sunday.
Of GW’s peer institutions, Boston University saw a dramatic 40 percent increase in early decision applications from last year. BU’s executive director of media relations Colin Riley added that the school saw a “huge increase” in applicants to its health and rehabilitation sciences school.
New York University’s early applicant pool inched up 3 percent. Northwestern and Emory universities, both considered GW’s peer schools, saw about 8 percent and 10 percent more applicants respectively.
Maltzman said he had not expected the University’s fall off U.S. News & World Report’s best colleges ranking last fall to impact the admissions cycle. GW was unranked by the publication in November after University officials revealed that the admissions office had reported false admissions data for at least a decade.
“We had a record number of applications last year,” Maltzman said, referring to total application numbers. “This year will be pretty much the same.”
Last year, GW accepted about 7,100 of 21,600 applicants during both the early and regular admissions cycles, or about 33 percent of applicants. The Class of 2016 totaled about 2,400 students.
