Northwestern accepted 9 percent of its applicants for the Class of 2024, University spokesperson Jon Yates told The Daily in an email.

This marks the second straight year in which Northwestern’s acceptance rate has risen, up from 8.9 percent last year and 8.4 percent the year before. This year’s figure matches the percentage of students accepted in 2017. That same year, the acceptance rate fell below double digits for the first time and has stayed there ever since.

The slight uptick in acceptance rates at Northwestern is endemic of trends at other selective institutions. This year, Harvard University accepted 4.9 percent of its applicants, up from 4.6 percent in 2019. Dartmouth College accepted 8.8 percent of its applicants, up from 7.9 percent in 2019. Yale University, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania all saw similar rises.

Still, acceptance rates for Northwestern and other universities have fallen significantly over the last decade. In 2010, Northwestern accepted 23.1 percent of its applicants. That same year, Dartmouth accepted 15.4 percent of applicants. Harvard’s acceptance rate was at 9.3 percent.

This year, NU received a total of 39,261 applications for the Class of 2024 and admitted 3,542 students. Last year, the University received a record high of 40,579 total applications, up from the previous record set the year before.

Yates told The Daily that the University expects an incoming class of 1,975.

Students accepted via regular decision have until May 1 to make their college decisions. However, they’ll have little opportunity to visit campus beforehand due to the rampant spread of the novel coronavirus. Earlier this month, the University canceled Wildcat Days and other prospective student programming through mid-April.

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