Early Returns suggest Common App Glitches had Little Impact on Numbers

Georgia Tech extended its EA deadline and increased applications by 37%.

Early returns from Common Application member colleges suggest that software glitches might not have had too much of an impact early application numbers.

Although results are slow to come in this year, those colleges boasting of increases in early applications have been quick to report their success. 

Despite a few unexpected hurdles, students anxious to benefit from perceived advantages in applying early to high profile colleges persisted in getting their Early Decision (ED) or Early Action (EA) applications in on time.  And some of the results are impressive:

Brown University:  Early decision applications at Brown reached a record high of 3,086—up by two percent over last year.  Applications to the Brown-RISD Dual-Degree program rose 54 percent this year.

Columbia University:  3,296 applicants applied binding early decision to Columbia for the Class of 2018—an increase of 5.4 percent over last year.

Dartmouth College:  As of the November 8 deadline, Dartmouth received 1,678 early decision applications—up by 6.7 percent over last year’s pool which saw a 12.6 percent decrease in applications.

Duke University:  The number of binding ED applications rose by 26 percent from last year.  In 2012, Duke received 2,540 applications.  This year, the number jumped to 3,191—the highest number of early applicants ever received.

Georgia Tech:  In an email, first year Common App user Georgia Tech writes that early action applications are up by 37 percent.

Kenyon College:  By the November 15 ED I deadline, Kenyon received 232 applications—an increase of 17 percent over last year.

Northwestern University:  Early decision applications to Northwestern increased by about 14 percent to 2,794.

Princeton University:  Early action applications were essentially flat as Princeton received 3,831 early action applications—21 more than last year.  Note that Princeton added the Universal College Application as an option two weeks before deadline.

Reed College:  Reed reports on Facebook that Early Decision I applications are up by a whopping 43%.

Swarthmore College:  Swarthmore received 343 applications for this year’s Early Decision I deadlines.  This represents an increase of eight percent over last year.

University of Pennsylvania:  Penn reports a 6.6 percent increase in the number of students applying early decision.  In 2008, Penn received 3,631 early decision applications. This year the number rose to 5,133 for the class of 2018.

University of Virginia:  Preliminary figures suggest that UVa received an additional 494applicants over last year, for a total of 14,309 early action applicants.

Yale University:  Yale received a total of 4,768 single-choice early action applications for the class of 2018—a 5.6 percent increase from last year.

But news wasn’t universally good among Common App members.  Williams College announced a decrease of about 12 percent to 550 early decision applicants.

And the news isn’t just about Common App members.  Georgetown University reports that their early action application pool increased by four students over last year.