<p>From today’s Hatchet:</p>
<p>University sees record number of applicants
by Matt Rist
Senior Staff Writer Issue: 1/19/10 | News </p>
<p>GW received a record-breaking 20,475 undergraduate applications this year, representing an increase of 3 percent from last year and making admission to the University this year more competitive than ever, University administrators said this week.</p>
<p>Executive Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Kathryn Napper said Monday that applications following the Jan. 10 deadline reached 20,475, an increase of more than 600 applications from last year.</p>
<p>“I’m pleased to report that applications are up from last year,” Napper said in an e-mail. “We have received the most ever applications in University history.”</p>
<p>Napper noted said the only other time the University received more than 20,000 applications was for the fall of 2004 when it had 20,100 applicants.</p>
<p>Following last year’s 2-percent-yield increase, Senior Vice President for Student and Academic Support Services Robert Chernak said the admissions office will be significantly more selective this year.</p>
<p>“It is more likely this year that we will accept a smaller percentage of applicants than last year and establish a slightly larger wait list,” Chernak said.</p>
<p>Napper said the total number of early decision applications also increased by 17 percent this year, with 2,285 total Early Decision I and II applications compared to 1,940 in 2009, making early admittance at GW more competitive.</p>
<p>“We have already made a conscious decision to accept fewer early decision applicants than we did last year even though our early decision application pool was larger than last year,” Chernak said in an e-mail.</p>
