American University’s acceptance rate dropped 11 points to 35 percent this year, a significantly lower acceptance rate than GW’s for the Class of 2019.

American University – one of GW’s peers – accepted 5,867 students this year and plans on enrolling 1,600 freshman this fall according to The Eagle, the university’s student paper. American University accepted 46 percent of applicants last year.

GW accepted 45 percent of applicants this year, the highest acceptance rate in more than a decade.

More than 16,700 students applied to American University this year, a bump of 11 percent from the year before, The Eagle reported. The total number of students admitted dropped by more than 1,000 students from 6,933 last year.

Administrators say the bump in GW’s admission rate can help increase tuition revenue while departments face budget cuts. The University has one of the highest admission rates among its 14 peer schools, and hopes to boost its freshmen class by 100 to 150 students.

Boston University, another peer school, admitted 32 percent of students this year. Georgetown University’s acceptance rate for the Class of 2019 was 16.4 percent and Duke University admitted 9.4 percent of regular-decision applicants.