Photo Courtesy of Hamilton College
As the end of the spring semester approaches for students, April and May mark the beginning of many future students’ time at Hamilton. The accepted Class of 2022 has achieved new records and heightened the College’s standardized testing scores, top percentages and overall admission expectations.
Accepted Regular Decision applicants received their welcomes on the online student portals on March 23, marking the day when over a thousand perspective students would begin to consider Hamilton as their future home. “Our decision notifications were released in late March, and at that point (and still), 1,300 students will have been admitted to Hamilton,” said Monica Inzer, Vice President for Enrollment Management. “Applications for the Class of 2022 reached a record-high 6,240. This is a 10 percent increase over last year’s 5,678 and compares with 5,230 in 2016 and 5,434 in 2015. This is the first time application numbers have surpassed the 6,000 mark in Hamilton’s history.”
The College’s acceptance rate lowered almost four percent, making Hamilton’s selectivity more competitive for this year’s applicants and future prospective students. Inzer reported, “our current acceptance rate of 20.8 percent is our lowest on record in comparison with our final acceptance rates of 24.2 percent last year, which was our prior low, 26.1 percent in 2016, and 24.8 percent in 2015.”
In regards to standardized test scores, both the ACT and SAT average scores increased based on the applicant pool for the Class of 2022. “This year’s average ACT composite for admits is 33, which is equal to last year and compares with 32 the last two years,” said Inzer. “The average SAT for admits is 1462, making it exactly 20 points higher than last year’s average of 1442.”
Based on the applicants from the accepted pool who could report their high school class ranks, almost all of them ranked in the top 10 percent of their class. Inzer said, “For the 35 percent of admits who attend a high school that ranks, 87 percent ranked in the top 10 percent of their class — this compares to 85 percent last year, 83 percent in 2016, and 85 percent in 2015.”
Students accepted for the Class of 2022 come from many different states and countries around the world. “Our current admits hail from 46 states and 25 countries ranging from Australia, Greece, and Hungary to Kazakhstan, Morocco, and Thailand,” said Inzer. “The most represented states include, in order: NY, NJ, MA, CT and CA tied for 4th, and FL and PA tied for 6th, IL, TX, VA, and MI.”
While the demographic percentages of this accepted class remained the same as last year, the College has still seen an increase in diversity over recent years. “32 percent of admits identify as Black, Hispanic/Latino, Asian American, Native American or Multiracial, which is an equal percentage to last year,” said Inzer. “However, this still marks an increase in comparison to 2016’s 28 percent and 2015’s 26 percent.”
Gender ratios also remained close to the ratios of past years. Inzer stated, “55 percent of admits identify as female and 45 percent as male. This compares with 54 percent/46 percent last year, 56 percent/44 percent in 2016, and 54 percent/46 percent in 2015.”
According to Inzer, students should expect to see many visiting prospective students at the upcoming Accepted Students Day, which falls on April 16 this year. “April is a busy month for Accepted Student Visitor Events, and deposits are due Tuesday, May 1,” said Inzer.
“Now [Admissions’] focus shifts to see which students will accept our invitation before determining if we will offer admission to any students from the waitlist.”
