The Office of Admissions accepted 25 percent of its undergraduate applicants this year, the second-lowest rate in school history, and compiled a regular-decision acceptance rate of 24 percent.
Tufts received a record-high 16,644 undergraduate applications for this admission cycle, a nine-percent increase from last year's 15,294.
The university has turned up its support for financial aid recently, and Dean of Admissions Lee Coffin says this has expanded the applicant pool, causing the university to become "more selective." Coffin said financial-aid applicants accounted for the increase in this year's applicant pool.
"Now that we are replacing loans with grants for kids from the lowest income [bracket], kids who need aid are no longer holding back from applying to Tufts," Coffin said. Tufts announced on Dec. 19 that it would replace all loans with grants for students whose families earn less than $40,000 a year.
For the second consecutive year, the admissions office used a need-blind admission policy, in which no applicants' ability to pay was considered in the admissions process. But fifty-nine percent of accepted applicants applied for financial aid both this year and last year.
"The move to need-blind admissions is changing our applicant pool and how our applicants respond," Coffin said. "More people are able to accept our offers of our admission now that we have more resources, but we don't want a second freshman class that is as big as last year's."
Tufts has not yet officially announced a permanent need-blind policy, but plans on doing so "a few years," according to Coffin.
"It hasn't been announced as a formal policy because we want to make sure that it's sustainable," he said.
Thirty-three percent of accepted students are Americans of color, including a record-high number of accepted blacks and Hispanics. Coffin attributed the growth in applications from Mexican-American students to the effort admissions officers have made in visiting schools in Southern California and Texas.
"I'm optimistic that the Class of 2012 will be as socioeconomically and racially diverse as the Class of 2011," Coffin said.
While the high number of applications from California and Massachusetts stayed relatively the same, the amount of international applications grew by nine percent. The admissions office accepted applicants from 48 states and 68 countries. North and South Dakota yielded one applicant each, but Tufts did not accept either.
The average combined SAT score for students accepted to the School of Arts and Science or the School of Engineering was 1442 on a 1600-point scale. This marks a two-point jump from last year, and a 14-point increase from three years ago. This statistic does not include the writing section.
Notably, admissions witnessed a 45-point jump in average SAT scores for admitted engineers, from 1412 last year to 1457. The School of Engineering also received 2,010 applications, a record-high number. This marks the first time the school received more than 2,000 applicants. One third of accepted engineering students are female.
Around half of all applicants wrote the optional essay, including one accepted student who wrote his essay on slices of Wonderbread and another who wrote his essay on a puzzle.
Coffin said that the expanded supplement to Tufts' application "requires an additional degree of thoughtfulness" from applicants. "I think that this is good because it gives us a deeper and honest pool," he said.
In an effort to quell high school seniors' anxieties about Early Decision, admissions did not publicize the percentage of Early Decision applicants Tufts accepted this year. Coffin said that the Office of Admissions plans on maintaining this policy.
"We're trying to frame [Early Admissions] in a thoughtful way that doesn't allow the topic of undergraduate admissions to get enflamed," Coffin said. "The [Early Decision applicants'] admission profile is the same as [the] Regular Decision applicants'.
"Tufts is of the 25 most selective universities nationally, but that doesn't need to be an arrogant comment that suggests exclusivity or impossibility," he added. "It just means that we are privileged to have a bountiful pool to shape a freshman class at Tufts."
Many admitted students who are deciding whether to enroll will visit campus for the admissions office's April Open House, held on April 18, April 24 and April 25.
The Office of Admissions is seeking Tufts students to host visiting students for the evenings and nights before those dates.
