Stanford offers admission to 2,430 applicants

The Office of Undergraduate Admission announced today that 2,430 freshman applicants have been admitted to Stanford.

Letters of acceptance are being mailed to 1,578 students admitted through the Regular Review process. Follow-up letters also have been sent to another 852 students previously offered admission through Stanford's Single-Choice Early Action program, a non-binding early admission program for students who have clearly identified Stanford as their first-choice school.

All admitted students have until May 1 to decide whether to accept the offers.

The total number of applications increased significantly this year, rising above 22,000 for the first time in university history. The admission rate was the lowest ever, with slightly less than 11 percent of the 22,332 applicants admitted. Last year, 2,412 students were offered admission out of a pool of 20,194 applicants—an admission rate of just under 12 percent.

"We were in awe of the quality of this group of applicants," said Richard H. Shaw, dean of undergraduate admission and financial aid. "They are an incredibly bright, talented and accomplished group of students. We deeply appreciate their interest in Stanford and the time and effort they gave to the application process. In turn, we gave each individual consideration in what was a very competitive evaluation process."

The academic credentials of the admitted applicants are stellar, Shaw said. More than 90 percent of those for whom class rankings were reported ranked within the top 10 percent of their high school class, and nearly 80 percent have a grade point average of 4.0 or higher. All 50 states and 63 foreign countries are represented in this group.

"Given what they have accomplished already, the Class of 2010 will, no doubt, continue Stanford's strong tradition of academic excellence, love of learning and commitment to others," Shaw said. "We look forward to welcoming them to campus for Admit Weekend, and we hope they will choose to spend their undergraduate years at Stanford."

All prospective students who gained admission have been invited to visit campus during Admit Weekend, April 20-22, to explore the university and to meet their future classmates.

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