The University offered admission to 36 percent of the 16,252 applicants this year, down two percent from last year's admission rate of 38 percent of 15,900 applicants. The University admitted 42.2 percent of the 6,602 in-state applicants and 31.6 percent of the 9,650 out-of-state applicants for the class of 2010.
The number of qualified applicants increased this year, saidAdmissions Dean John Blackburn.
"This has been the most competitive pool that I've seen," he said. "In this period now and over the next four or five years, it will become even more competitive."
The undergraduate admissions decisions for the University of Virginia's Class of 2010 were made available to applicants online April 1.
Blackburn attributed the rise in highly qualified applicants to numerous factors.
"The population demographics have been increasing, and the popularity of the University is growing," Blackburn said. "I would expect it to be a little tougher every year. There are a lot of great young people on the wait list right now. A few years ago some of them would've been accepted," he said.
There are 3,237 applicants currently on the waitlist, and, according to Blackburn, about 25 to 33 percent will choose not to stay on the list.
"Some of the applicants on the wait list have other choices. The number of students on the list will probably get down to about 1,900 or 2,000 students. We hope to make some offers to applicants on the wait list, but we won't know that until after May 1," Blackburn said.
The admissions statistics from some high schools in Virginia that consistently send students to the University, such as Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, have not changed significantly from last year, said Nina Pitkin, director of student services at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.
"This year, there were 266 applicants and 211 students were admitted," Pitkin said. "This number is about the same every year or maybe changed by about 10 students. These numbers were not affected by the SAT change."
According to Blackburn, the challenge in determining the median SAT score for the Class of 2010 involved comparing the past median score from the old SAT with the new test.
"The SAT is not evenly comparable. We compared the middle 50 percent of the Class of 2009's scores from the old SAT and the Class of 2010's scores from the new SAT," Blackburn said.
The middle 50 percent SAT score of the enrolled Class of 2009 was between a 610 and 710 verbal and between a 620 and 720 math. For the newly admitted Class of 2010, the middle 50 percent score for math was between a 650 and 750 and the reading score was between a 630 and 740.
The candidates' reply date for the Class of 2010 is May 1. Days on the Lawn begin this Friday with a day for the admitted Echols and Rodman scholars.
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