As we reported in early January, Duke University saw a 20 percent dip in early-decision applications last fall, quite possibly in part due to the hurricane of negative media the school endured because of rape accusations made against three lacrosse players, who were acquitted Wednesday over a year after the accusations were made.
Whether that was the case or not, the total applicants only sank a hair, down to 19,170 for 2007 from 19,358 in for 2006. The admissions rate remaining steady at just under 20 percent.
There are two caveats to those steady figures, however. As we noted in January, a smaller number of those applicants applied early, which requires them to commit to the school ahead of time if accepted. The steady figures also buck a previous trend of healthy increases in the number of applicants each year:
| Year | Applicants | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 19,170 (-1%) | Press release | |
| 2006 | 19,358 (+7%) | Press release | |
| 2005 | 18,062 (+8%) | Press release | |
| 2004 | 16,702 | Press release |
Side note: Duke appears to issue the identical press release every year, with only the dates, figures, and a few details changed. "This was an especially challenging year for applicants to Duke," undergraduate admissions director Christoph Guttentag said in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. (Actually, in 2005 he mixed it up and went with "incredibly" instead of "especially.")
As U.S. News & World Report media correspondent Liz Halloran notes, the flood of coverage and interest in the case, compounded with what many see as a rush to judgment by both the media and the district attorney at the time, didn't work in Duke's favor.
But a school with a 19.7 percent rate of admission is still pretty hard to get into.
--Chris Wilson
Etc.: The Duke Lacrosse Fiasco (Video), on USNews.com
Reader Comments