The Justice

CORRECTION APPENDED: SEE BOTTOM

Brandeis and its peer institutions-even state schools-have become more selective than ever. Of the 7,536 applicants for the Class of 2010, Brandeis accepted an all-time low of 36 percent, 8 percent less than the Class of 2007's entering year. Admissions officials would not release figures for the Class of 2011 by press time.

Harvard's 9-percent acceptance rate is also the lowest it's ever been; Columbia accepted a mere 8.9 percent; Yale and Princeton accepted 8.6 and 10.2 percent, respectively, The New York Times recently reported.

Associate Director of Admissions Robert Andrews said a larger applicant pool has made Brandeis more selective. He acknowledged that a housing shortage is part of the reason for Brandeis' increased selectivity, although not the main reason.

"We can look for high achieving students who work hard and understand the material. They excel because they want to learn not for the grade," he said of "Brandeisian" applicants.

Colleges are receiving a wider pool of applicants for a variety of reasons, such as an increase in overall population, the number of high school seniors who want to start college immediately and the number of foreign applicants to American schools.

In addition, students are applying to more colleges than they used to, a process made easier by the prevalence of the Common Application, which allows students to apply to multiple schools through a single online application.

Pre-frosh and California-native Christopher W., who did not wish to disclose his last name, said he didn't hear from Brandeis until he received a "Blue Ribbon Application" in the mail. Upon receiving the application, half of it was filled out for him, and he did not have to pay an application fee or write a personal statement. The application simply requested a sample of graded work.

Christopher said Brandeis' swim team and its 86 percent-acceptance rate into law school enticed him to apply. He added that the Blue Ribbon application was easy for him to fill out, while the others were a "pain in the butt."

Some pre-froshes at last week's Open House said they did not feel much anxiety about applying to college. Rose Lindeberg said she was able to predict which colleges she would get into pretty easily.

"The most selective are going to stay selective. My main anxiety is where to go," she said.

For the last 20 years, a total of 2,500 undergraduate colleges and universities have accepted 70 percent of applicants, The New York Times also reported.

Correction: The article incorrectly stated that 36 percent of applicants for the Class of 2011 were admitted. Thirty-six percent of applicants for the Class of 2010 were admitted.