New York University President L. Jay Oliva today announced that NYU has offered admission to its most selective freshmen class ever. Out of a record 24,650 prospective freshman applicants, the University has offered spots in the next freshman class to some 34 percent, its lowest-ever acceptance rate. All students should have their letters by tomorrow, April 1; students must reply by May 1.
The University expects to enroll some 3,200 freshmen next year. Those accepted for admission for next fall had the highest average SAT scores of any group offered admissions as NYU freshman: the average score, 1330, was some 20 points higher than last year’s freshman class.
Those accepted include candidates from all 50 states and 38 foreign countries. Some 56 percent were women, and some 44 percent were men. Over 40 percent were people of color.
The admissions data for the NYU Class of 2002 continues a 7-year trend of increasingly greater numbers of applicants, lower acceptance rates and higher average SAT scores for freshmen. Since 1991, applications to NYU have increased more than 145 percent from 10,000 to 24,650 and the acceptance rate has declined from 65 percent to 34 percent. During this same period, the number of high school graduates nation-wide increased by only 10 percent.
Dr. Oliva said, “This is a great time of year for those of us in the higher education community. We are just as excited about the young people to whom we have offered freshman spots as they are about hearing from us.
“We at NYU are very pleased and gratified to see so many talented young people eager to come to school in New York in general and to New York University in particular. This University is inseparable from this city; we have always believed in its greatness as a matter of faith and in its incomparability as a place to learn as a matter of practice. As New York City thrives, so do we. And we think our faith is not only justified but also shared by young people and their families around the country and around the world.”
New York University is one of the largest private universities in the U.S. Based in New York City’s historic Greenwich Village, NYU has some 13 colleges and schools that conduct cutting-edge research and provide education in the arts and sciences, law, medicine, dentistry, business, nursing, education, the cinematic and performing arts, social work, and public service and administration, among other areas.