Despite a shaky national economy, Stanford University has received a record number of applications for its fall freshman class.
With foreign applications still trickling in, the university already has topped last year's record of 30,428 applications overall, said Lisa Lapin, a university spokeswoman.
Only about 1,700 spots are available in the freshman class, which means a lot of high school seniors will be disappointed when the acceptance letters go out from the university in late March and early April.
"The number of applicants has been rising in recent years, and Stanford has been getting more and more selective," Lapin said. "Last year we had an acceptance rate of around 7 percent, which was the lowest in our history."
Stanford was the third-most-selective university in the country last year, behind Harvard and Yale. By contrast, the sprawling University of California system typically accepts about three-quarters of its freshman applicants, although that percentage is far lower at its most popular campuses, such as UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC San Diego.
Even Stanford's decision last February to boost the cost of tuition and room and board to $48,843 hasn't deterred students from their dream of a Stanford education.
The country's ongoing economic crisis is one of the reasons Stanford and many other universities have seen their number of applicants soar, said David Hawkins, director of public policy and research for the National Association for College Admission Counseling.
"You have to look at the economy and the uncertainty that students see all around them," he said. "More students are looking to go to college because they know the job market is bad and that they will need more skills."
It's not as though students aren't worried about finances. The cost of college overshadows just about every other concern for new students, according to an annual survey on freshman attitudes by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA.
But tough economic times don't have quite the same effect on prestigious, high-visibility schools such as Stanford, Hawkins said.
"There seems to be some (universities) that are immune to certain trends, whether it's in admissions or endowments," he said. "Selective schools continue to draw from the same applicants: high-achieving students with high ambitions," and there are plenty of them from families that can afford the stiff costs.
Stanford also has a strong commitment to making the school affordable for all students, Lapin said. About 80 percent of the student body receives some type of financial aid.
A number of high school students aren't going to have to wait nervously for that Stanford admissions letter this spring. In December, the university accepted 753 of the 5,566 students who had applied early to the school for the 2010 fall semester.
Another 700 early applicants had their admissions decision deferred until this spring.
Last year, Stanford offered admission to 2,300 applicants to fill the 1,700 spots in the current freshman class with the knowledge that some of those students would decide to attend elsewhere.
With foreign applications still trickling in, the university already has topped last year's record of 30,428 applications overall, said Lisa Lapin, a university spokeswoman.
Only about 1,700 spots are available in the freshman class, which means a lot of high school seniors will be disappointed when the acceptance letters go out from the university in late March and early April.
"The number of applicants has been rising in recent years, and Stanford has been getting more and more selective," Lapin said. "Last year we had an acceptance rate of around 7 percent, which was the lowest in our history."
Stanford was the third-most-selective university in the country last year, behind Harvard and Yale. By contrast, the sprawling University of California system typically accepts about three-quarters of its freshman applicants, although that percentage is far lower at its most popular campuses, such as UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC San Diego.
Even Stanford's decision last February to boost the cost of tuition and room and board to $48,843 hasn't deterred students from their dream of a Stanford education.
The country's ongoing economic crisis is one of the reasons Stanford and many other universities have seen their number of applicants soar, said David Hawkins, director of public policy and research for the National Association for College Admission Counseling.
"You have to look at the economy and the uncertainty that students see all around them," he said. "More students are looking to go to college because they know the job market is bad and that they will need more skills."
It's not as though students aren't worried about finances. The cost of college overshadows just about every other concern for new students, according to an annual survey on freshman attitudes by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA.
But tough economic times don't have quite the same effect on prestigious, high-visibility schools such as Stanford, Hawkins said.
"There seems to be some (universities) that are immune to certain trends, whether it's in admissions or endowments," he said. "Selective schools continue to draw from the same applicants: high-achieving students with high ambitions," and there are plenty of them from families that can afford the stiff costs.
Stanford also has a strong commitment to making the school affordable for all students, Lapin said. About 80 percent of the student body receives some type of financial aid.
A number of high school students aren't going to have to wait nervously for that Stanford admissions letter this spring. In December, the university accepted 753 of the 5,566 students who had applied early to the school for the 2010 fall semester.
Another 700 early applicants had their admissions decision deferred until this spring.
Last year, Stanford offered admission to 2,300 applicants to fill the 1,700 spots in the current freshman class with the knowledge that some of those students would decide to attend elsewhere.
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