The Office of Admission welcomed 259 new students to Emory College and 143 students to Oxford College through Early Decision II (ED II) on Feb. 2. With 1,817 applicants for Emory College and 1,110 applicants for Oxford College, the admission rates were 14% and 13%, respectively.
This year’s EDII applicant pool grew by 9%, which Dean of Admission John Latting called a “robust” growth.
According to Latting, across the past six ED II admission cycles, there has been an average of 10% annual growth in the number of applications.
This year’s increased ED II applicant pool consisted of greater geographical and demographic diversity, Latting noted.
“We’re trying in everything that we do to diversify the population of students we engage with,” Latting said. “We’ve been doing a lot of virtual programming, outreach to schools and community-based organizations.”
Catherine Goodman (26C), who is from Savannah, Georgia, expressed that while she did not visit campus, she engaged with multiple online resources.
“I’ve done every virtual tour possible,” Goodman said. “I watched the day in the life as an Emory student [videos] over and over again.”
Similarly, Abby Weisenfeld (26C) who is from Carmel, California, participated in various virtual tours and panel discussions hosted by the University.
Latting added that the University’s continued test-optional policy remains as an “inviting disposition” for students to apply to the University, even without an outstanding test score.
“It communicates to students more that if you take the best classes in your high school and you do really well, we want to look at your application,” Latting explained. “You don’t have to have a 35 ACT. It’s more welcoming.”
Out of the ED II applicant pool, 48% of applicants submitted standardized test scores. Among the admitted applicants, 71% submitted their test scores.
This year, there was an increase in test scores submissions in both the overall and admitted applicant pool compared to last year’s ED II applicant pool, which had 43% of overall applicants and 62% of admitted applicants who submitted test scores.
Latting attributed this increase to this year’s applicant pool’s strengthened academic experience along with students’ eased ability to take an SAT or an ACT. Goodman, however, “took a leap of faith” and chose not to submit her SAT scores despite taking the exams. After multiple tests were canceled in nearby locations, she had to travel far distances to find a testing site.
“Because they were so limited on testing sites and testing dates, I had to drive to St. Simons, Georgia, spend the night, and go to a site there,” Goodman explained. “That obviously doesn’t bode well for a good morning and a test … I ended up getting a good score but I felt so strongly that it didn’t reflect my skill set at all.”
Of the 29% of admitted applicants who chose not to submit a score, many chose to submit AP results in lieu of SAT or ACT scores, Latting said.
While the University has not yet made a final decision on whether the test-optional policy will remain, Latting said he expects a decision to come out in a “very short number of days.”
Peer institutions are also shifting their long-term test policies. Last year, University of California (UC) schools moved to suspend the standardized test requirement until Fall of 2024, as they plan on replacing it with a new UC-specific test by 2025.
Mirroring the applicant pool increase, the number of ED II admits also grew by 9% compared to last year’s ED II admitted pool. Latting pointed out that stronger applicants, in addition to a larger application volume, led to an increased admitted pool.
Latting also added that the increase in ED II admits was a response to stronger recommendation letters, curriculum quality, grades and test scores among prospective Class of 2026 students.
As the COVID-19 pandemic persists, however, Latting continued to see its effects on multiple aspects of the ED II applications.
“I’m noticing [cases] like teachers writing letters for students they’ve never seen in person and I’m noticing in activities, much more than I’m used to, disrupted activities,” Latting explained. “I’m seeing things stop and start much more frequently. It’s more of a dynamic situation.”
Both Goodman and Weisenfeld, who were involved in team sports throughout high school, said they experienced such disruptions in their sports activities as practice sites banned entrances and multiple matches were canceled.
Latting added that he also saw financial stresses, mental health issues and varying effects of COVID-19 community precautions in the applications.
Although she did not discuss COVID-19 in her essays, Weisenfeld said that the pandemic presented unexpected academic stress. During her junior year, her classes simultaneously accommodated both virtual and in-person students, which led to various technical difficulties and inconveniences.
“It was really hard on my teachers and it stunted how we were learning,” Weisenfeld explained. “There was just a lot going on at once. We had to keep all the doors and windows open and Carmel is really cold, it rained on us everyday. It was hard to focus on class with everything going on.”
While Weisenfeld maintained strong academic performances, she wished that there were more collaboration between teachers and administrators.
According to Latting, although the University has two separate Early Decision processes, Early Decision I (ED I) and ED II applications are “ultimately viewed the same.”
“We try to honor ED I and ED II applicants with extra consideration to respect the fact that students have identified Emory as the place they want to be,” Latting said. “On the one hand, we know that it’s just one class and it doesn’t really matter how students apply. On the other hand, we’re sensitive to what students are saying about Emory when they apply Early Decision. We definitely want to be responsive to the best students who apply.”
With the University’s recent announcement of its expansion of need-based financial aid, Latting said that he expects further growth in the 2022-2023 applicant pool.
“It will affect next year’s applicant pool and our ability to enroll admitted students. It will be more competitive because cost is an important factor,” Latting said. “What Emory is going to do, for families with financial needs, is going to be a more attractive option.”
Goodman, who is planning to study creative writing, said that she is excited about what the University has to offer.
“I was able to step back and look at the person I was now, and I realized that Emory offered me what I wanted more than the school I had been deferred from,” she said.
