Acceptance rate at 15.4% for class of 2016

High-school seniors who applied to Washington University received their admissions decisions earlier this month, and nearly 85 percent who applied were disappointed.

Continuing the selective trend from last year, the acceptance rate for the incoming fall freshman class remains under 20 percent. There were 28,826 applicants and 4,440 accepted, making the admissions rate 15.4 percent.

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions will not have the official matriculation statistics for the 2016 incoming freshman class until the summer and would not disclose the number of students waitlisted.

The admissions decisions were released electronically on March 9. Some applicants had trouble accessing the website while some applicants who accepted the waitlist were then locked out of the system.

“There were some technical difficulties [on the website] that let some students see the decisions earlier than others,” Julie Shimabukuro, director of admissions, said. “It had no effect on the decisions that were made.”

The issue was quickly resolved and had no lasting effects on the applicants.

Steve Givens, associate vice chancellor of public affairs, stated that it is impossible to know if the admissions rate will have a direct impact on the college rankings for the University.

“There are many aspects that factor in to a college ranking other than the acceptance rate. It would be pure conjecture to say what the impact would be,” he said.

In 2010, 5,285 of 24,939 applicants were accepted with an admission rate of 21.19 percent. A record number of incoming freshmen accepted their offers of admissions, resulting in an oversized freshman class. The Office of Undergraduate Admissions has been cutting the number of acceptance offers since.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming a new freshman class of academically talented students who will take advantage of the many opportunities here and will be great citizens of the [Wash. U.] community,” Shimabukuro said.