Getting in: Longer odds as applications rise (again)

The University announced Jan. 19 that it had received 27,115 applications for the Class of 2015, up 3.3 percent from a year ago. The number set a record for the seventh year in a row, though the percentage increase was smaller than at most other Ivy schools. Columbia’s total was up 32 percent, Dartmouth 16, ­Harvard 15, Penn 14, Yale 5, and Brown 3 (Cornell’s figures were not available at press time).

Princeton’s numbers are “exactly where we should be right now,” Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye said. She said big jumps in applications have ­coincided with policy shifts like allowing use of the Common Application and requiring only two SAT subject tests instead of three. The number of students seeking admission has increased 98 percent in the past seven years.    

Rapelye termed the applicant pool “deep and broad” and said increases were distributed evenly among all regions and groups. Male and female applicants are represented equally, and 74 percent are seeking financial aid, the same as last year.  

Applicants will learn if they have been admitted at the end of March. The ­University plans to enroll 1,300 freshmen in the fall.