Overall Admit Rate 9.7%

The Class of 2009 was chosen from 19,448 applicants, representing a slight decline of 1.2 percent in Yale's application pool compared to 19,675 applicants the previous year. 1,880 applicants were admitted compared to 1,950 the previous year. The overall acceptance rate of 9.7 percent, makes this year the most competitive in Yale's history. The acceptance rate for Early Action was 18 percent; the acceptance rate for Regular Decision was 7.5 percent.

Yale expects a 70 percent yield and is aiming for a class of 1,310 students.

52 percent of the admits were male; 57 percent of the admits attended public high schools; 42 percent of the admits are minorities or international students.

Early Action

Yale saw its early pool rise from 16.6 percent for the Class of 2008 to 17.9 percent for the Class of 2009. Yale's early pool saw a 2.8 percent decrease in applications, but Yale accepted 704 students out of a total early applicant pool of 3,933 students, a 1.3 percent increase from last year when Yale admitted 670 of its 4,046 early applicants. The admissions office denied 1,312 applicants or 33 percent and deferred 47 percent, similar to previous years.

Yale had the lowest early acceptance rate in the Ivy League, but increased the number of students admitted early this year because of the overall strength of the early applicant pool compared to last year. Yale expects that about 620 of the 704 accepted students will matriculate and join the Class of 2009, as long as this year's yield mirrors last year's rate of 88 percent. With some 1,300 spots available in the class of 2009, about 55 percent of the class is open for regular and deferred applicants.

Yale saw an increase in the number of students applying from public schools. Geographically, Yale admitted an increased number of applicants from the Midwest and the West. The early admits were made up of 351 men and 353 women. Similar to last year, about 29 percent of the early admits are students of color and 5.3 percent are from foreign countries.