Last week, Georgetown released its annual Admissions Report for the Class of 2017. Keeping with recent trends, the University boasts a remarkably low acceptance rate of 17 percent. In spite of its small endowment and pressure to switch to the Common Application, Georgetown continues to stand out from other universities with its need-blind admissions process and promotion of diversity in its undergraduate class .
Earlier this year, The Washington Post reported that Washington and Lee University padded its admissions rate by including incomplete applications. 1,100 applications (or about 1 out of every 6) were left unfinished yet were still included in the applicant pool. Such actions run the risk of becoming normal in the increasingly competitive admissions market. Just last week, George Washington University’s Admissions Department admitted to lying about having a need-blind admissions process.
Of course, even without resorting to outright dishonesty, other schools use the Common Application to increase the size of their applicant pool and decrease their percentage of admitted students. Georgetown Dean of Admissions Charles Deacon recently estimated that if Georgetown were to switch to the Common Application, the University would receive about 10,000 more applications every year. By resisting the temptation to deflate our acceptance rate for the sake of rankings, the Admissions Office manages to attract prospective students with an actual desire to attend school at Georgetown while maintaining its integrity.
Georgetown’s distinctive campus culture is the direct result of the Undergraduate Admissions Office’s dedication to maintaining fair and honest admissions practices that still create diversity among the student body. 8 percent of admitted students for the Class of 2017 were African-American, while 11 percent were Hispanic or Latino, 13 percent were Asian-American, and 6 percent were biracial. Half of the applicant pool came from multicultural backgrounds, and together the admitted students represent all 50 states and 69 different countries.
It is essential for Georgetown to maintain its need-blind admissions process, however, it should refocus its efforts to create socioeconomic diversity on campus. The University should continue the capital campaign to grow its endowment to $1.5 billion and then direct the bulk of these funds to financial aid. This course of action would allow for more low-income applicants to attend Georgetown while not sacrificing the financial anonymity of need-blind applications.
Though the prospect of a deflated admissions rate is no doubt enticing to many Georgetown administrators, the policies of the Admissions Office are reassuring in the face of increasingly misleading and fraudulent college admissions practices in many schools across the country.
