From this year’s applicant pool of 439, approximately 145 will receive an offer of admission, up slightly from last year’s 140. These fortunate few will make up roughly 31 percent of the Class of 2014, which is expected to number 465 altogether.
Early Decision programs have been subject to considerable criticism, with some arguing that they may prevent underprivileged applicants from weighing financial aid awards from multiple institutions and place an unreasonable burden on young students to make a serious commitment to increase admission chances.
In consideration of these criticisms, Amherst has implemented the policy that no more than 30 percent of each incoming class may consist of early applicants.
According to Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Tom Parker, adhering to this ideal will prove difficult this year. “The pool is more powerful academically and more diverse than last year’s,” Parker said. “It’s an embarrassment of riches. Limiting ourselves to 30 [percent] is self-defeating.”
When asked to explain how Amherst managed to continue to court such a large and impressive pool of applicants, Parker responded, “What’s happened is that [Amherst] has had a very high appeal. The athletes applying this year are terrific. The musicians applying this year are terrific. It’s the kind of place that appeals to a broad range of people.
“No matter what aspect you’re looking at, you’re looking at something very positive,” continued Parker. “Everything we’re doing is very attractive to very bright kids. Particularly the diversity — it’s a pretty amazing and appealing aspect of the College.”
Parker and the rest of the admission staff began reading applications as early as Thanksgiving Day. They will have made decisions on all 439 early applicants by Tuesday, Dec. 8, and the Office of Admission intends to mail all of these decisions on Friday, Dec. 11.
Although Parker could not disclose finalized admission statistics at the time of writing, he did reveal that Amherst has received eight matches from QuestBridge, an exceedingly selective, non-profit program that “connects high-achieving low-income students with admission and full scholarships to 27 partner colleges,” which include Williams College and Harvard, Yale and Princeton Universities.
Admission deans at other colleges have feared publicly that the adverse economic climate would discourage applicants from committing through binding Early Decision programs. According to The Williams Record, Williams College “plans on receiving a target of around 550 applications,” far fewer than the 614 early applications it had enjoyed the previous year. However, Amherst’s early applicant pool remains as strong in numbers as it has always been, declining a mere fraction of a percent — and the quality of each applicant has actually increased. In Parker’s words, the Class of 2014 so far is “just amazing in terms of the academic quality and the diversity.”