Getting in, then and now

Chart: Mark Zurolo ’01MFA. Source: Office of Institutional Research.

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On March 30, Yale College offered admission to 2,272 students for the Class of 2021. That’s 284 more than were admitted to the Class of 2020, since the opening of two new residential colleges will allow for another 200 students in each class. As a result, Yale’s admission rate went up slightly, from 6.3 percent last year to 6.9 percent. Although admissions rates are affected by many factors and are not always the best measures of an institution’s quality, we were curious to see how Yale’s rate has changed over the last several decades. (Figures for some years in the 1950s were not available.) The number of applicants has increased more than tenfold since 1950, and the number admitted has risen by 75 percent.