Stanford offers admission to 2,400 students

The Office of Undergraduate Admission announced today that 2,400 students have been selected for admission to Stanford University's Class of 2012. Of that total, 738 were admitted in December through the university's restrictive early action program.

The students were selected from 25,298 candidates, the largest applicant pool in Stanford's history.

"The competition for admission to Stanford this year was unprecedented," said Richard Shaw, dean of admission and financial aid. "Because of the large number of applicants, we were able to admit just 9.5 percent, the lowest admission rate in Stanford's 117-year history. As expected, the academic strengths, talent and impact outside the classroom of this group is astonishing. They are distinguished on a global scale."

Shaw added: "We hope that many of those who have been admitted will benefit from Stanford's new financial aid programs, which should enable us to attract an even more socio-economically diverse freshman class."

Stanford is among the top 10 private universities in the nation enrolling students from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds. In this admitted class, 431 students will be the first in their families to attend a four-year college or university.

Earlier this year, Stanford announced that parents who make less than $100,000 annually will not be expected to pay tuition. Parents who make less than $60,000 will not be expected to contribute to defraying any of their son's or daughter's educational expenses, such as tuition, room and board. The program also eliminates the expectation that students will need to borrow to meet educational costs. However, students still will be expected to contribute earnings from jobs held during the summer and academic year toward the cost of their education.

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