The Office of Admissions received 251 applications for its Sunday, Nov. 15 Early Decision 1 (ED1) deadline for the class of 2020, marking a slight decrease from the 278 ED1 applications they received last year.

Stephanie Niles, vice president of Enrollment, Marketing and Communications, said that current application yields put Dickinson about “10 percent behind last year’s ED1 application submissions,” but ahead overall for regular applications.

“Overall, Dickinson has received 1,240 applications for fall 2016 as compared to 1,063 last year which is a 16.7 percent increase,” Catherine Davenport ’87, Dean of Admissions said. Although the initial number of applications is greater than last year thus far, Davenport reported that it is still too early to “predict the size and quality of the applicant pool for the Class of 2020.”

Admissions counselors began reviewing ED1 applications on Monday, Nov. 16. Each application will be reviewed by two admissions counselors before a review committee makes the final decision to accept, reject or defer the applicant to the early action or regular decision admission cycles. ED1 applicants will be notified of their admission status and financial aid award by mid-December, Davenport said.

Davenport added that early decision applications are the first that admissions officers review, and said that they are the smallest pool of applications that the office receives each year.

She explained that early decision enrollment can impact the college’s overall ranking based on the overall number of students admitted through early decision. A low number of ED1 admissions will decrease the college’s overall acceptance rate, indicating a more selective school. Early Decision acceptances also increase the yield rate, or the number of admitted students who choose to attend Dickinson over other colleges, since early decision is a binding agreement.

“Early Decision students who apply, are admitted and enroll have done thorough research on their ‘fit’ and connection to Dickinson and demonstrate this connection through their application materials,” said Davenport. By applying early decision, an applicant is showing the college that Dickinson is ultimately their first choice school and they are prepared to enroll upon acceptance, she says.

Having an early decision option allows Dickinson to “admit and enroll high-achieving, actively-engaged students into our community early which lays a very strong foundations for the next enrolling class,” Davenport explained.