A record 6,129 applicants applied for the Dickinson Class of 2020, according to Angela S. Barone, director of Admissions Communications. The majority of these applicants applied through Regular Decision.

Over the past three years, Dickinson has seen a steady increase in the number of Regular Decision applications. Following a significant rise in the number of prospective students in 2015 (almost 300 more students applied than they did the year before), this year also showed a slight increase in applications received, going from 2,703 last year to 2,763 this year.

“The size of the first-year class— [which is] large because more students accepted our offer of admission than we’d anticipated—has led to much research to better understand and predict which admitted students are likely to accept our offer of admission, allowing us to be more conservative and selective in the number of students admitted,” said Barone.

Barone believes there will be fluctuations each year in acceptance rates. The Office of Admissions will make decisions in the best interest of the college, based on the strengths of each candidate that applied.

According to data provided by the Admissions Office, the applicant numbers for this year were below average for Early Decision I. While the average applicant pool by Nov. 15 is usually around 294, this year 277 applications were submitted at that time.

While the number for Early Decision I did not suggest a large incoming first-year group, more than 3,000 applications were received for Early Action by Dec. 1. The numbers for this type of application have also been on the rise. On average, 200 more students apply this way each year.

Early Decision II, which had a deadline of Jan. 15, was the least common application choice for the high school class of 2016, with 77 applications.

Candidates that applied through Early Decision II will receive their decisions in Mid-February while Regular Decision applicants can expect an answer from the college in late March.