The number of applications to Yale College for the Class of 2003 are at an all-time high, according to Richard H. Shaw Jr., dean of undergraduate admissions and financial aid.

Shaw says Yale has received 13,168 applications, exceeding the previous high of 13,063 applicants for the Class of 1991, which entered Yale in the fall of 1987. The number of applications was also 10 percent higher than last year, when Yale College received 11,947 applications for the current freshman class.

"The application total reflects many positive developments at Yale in recent years, including the recruitment and retention of top faculty, enhancements in financial aid, the successful completion of the capital campaign and the rebuilding of the campus," Shaw says. "These factors are among many that continue to make Yale extremely attractive to exceptional candidates around the country and around the world. Yale will welcome an outstanding class this fall from among these applicants."

The applicants include those students who applied to Yale last fall under the Early Decision process. Students who apply early commit to attending Yale College if accepted. Yale has accepted 526 of its early applicants, or about 40 percent of the Class of 2003. The College seeks 1,300 freshmen overall, or about one matriculant for every 10 applications.

Yale College has been accepting a slightly smaller percentage of applicants in recent years as the "yield," or percentage of admitted students who choose to attend Yale, has risen. For example, Yale last year admitted 17.6 percent of its applicants to the Class of 2002, and 63 percent of those students matriculated. In comparison, Yale admitted 20 percent of the applicants for the Class of 1999, and 55 percent of those admitted students attended Yale.

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