Diane Guité '03 and Chessa Forer '04

Applications to Deerfield have gone up 10.6% over last year. As a result, the 1,505 applicants this season faced the toughest competition that any Deerfield applicant pool has ever presented.

For those already here, the good news is that Deerfield remains one of New England's most popular schools. For those hoping to get here, the bad news is that almost no one can be assured of admission. Applicants can no longer rely on the various connections that in prior years all but guaranteed admission. Only 19.6% of this year's admitted applicants were siblings and alumni children.

On top of the increasing number of applicants, Deerfield is also cutting down on the number of students admitted. This year, a mere 336 were admitted (465 were put on the wait-list), compared to last year's 356. Mrs. Gimbel explained, "Our goal is to reduce the student body to 597, but this is an unscientific process. We go on a historical basis of about three to five years to try to predict the yield of students by gender, grade, and numerous other factors."

In the boarding student applicant pool, the acceptance rate for this year fell to 22% from last year's acceptance rate of 26%. The competition in the day student applicant pool this year was almost as intense, as 30% were accepted as opposed to the 27% who were accepted last year.