AU’s acceptance rate for incoming freshmen dropped from 46 to 35 percent this year, accepting over 1,000 fewer students than last year, according to Greg Grauman, Vice Provost of Undergraduate Admissions.
The University anticipates an incoming freshman class of 1,600 students, the same as last year’s target class size, Grauman said. Grauman said he is confident that AU will reach this goal, even though only 5,867 students were accepted. Last year, AU accepted 6,933 students.
“Based on the success of last year, we anticipated a greater percentage of admitted students would choose to attend AU,” Grauman said in an email.
AU received more than 16,700 applicants this year, 11 percent more than during the fall 2014 admissions cycle.
Factors contributing to the increase in applicants could be positive word of mouth and increased outreach by the admissions office in new regions, specifically southern and western regions of the U.S., Grauman said.
“American University’s reputation is beginning to catch up with the academic quality that has been present for some time,” he said.
Though Grauman does not see an acceptance rate as an accurate way to judge quality of education, he said he thinks a lower acceptance rate will continue to boost AU’s reputation.
“Whether or not it is justified, prospective students will often perceive an institution that is more difficult to gain admittance into as a better institution than one which accepts a greater percentage of its applicants,” he said.
As positive word of AU continues to spread, Grauman said he believes even more students will apply to AU in future years and the admissions rate will continue to drop.
