Coveted "thick envelopes" arrived in the mailboxes of 547 early decision applicants over winter break, the largest number of early admissions offers extended in 10 years.

Although Duke accepted 75 more students through the early decision process than last year, the admissions rate declined from 38 percent to 36 percent. The University received 1,539 early decision applications this year, up 23 percent from last year and the second-largest in school history.

"Early decision students are particularly committed to Duke-they're wonderful representatives of Duke," Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag said. "We saw the opportunity this year to increase that number somewhat, but we didn't want to go overboard. It was a matter of taking advantage of the larger pool and being more selective at the same time."

Guttentag attributed the rise in early decision applicants to Duke's enhanced financial aid offerings for lower- and middle-income families-two-thirds of the increase in applications was from students indicating that they would apply for need-based aid-and Duke's heightened domestic and international visibility. Thirty-eight international students applied early decision, an increase of 33 percent, and Duke also received more applications from North Carolinians, he said.

The recent economic downturn may weigh heavily on college admissions this year-many private universities are bracing for a potential decrease in enrollment, The New York Times reported Dec. 21. But Duke has received more regular decision applications than ever, and the decision to admit a bumper crop of early decision applicants-who are bound to attend the University-was not influenced by the financial crisis, Guttentag said.

"By the time we were making [early admissions] decisions, we were obviously very aware of the state of the economy," he said. "But the fact that so many more students applied early decision made us feel that we would have a very reasonably sized and talented regular decision pool. With a significantly larger early decision pool, I think we would have admitted more regardless of external factors."

It is too soon to tell whether the financial crisis has caused more students to qualify for financial aid, Guttentag said. Fifty-one percent of early decision applicants indicated that they would apply for financial aid-up from 46 percent last year-but Guttentag noted that as much as 52 percent of early decision applicants have indicated they would request aid in years past. In addition, not all students who indicate they will apply for financial aid ultimately complete the process, he said.

Many early decision applicants have received their financial aid packages, but Director of Financial Aid Alison Rabil could not be reached for comment.

Students who apply early decision commit to attending Duke without comparing financial aid packages from other universities, and the regular decision pool typically contains a higher proportion of financially needy students, Guttentag noted. But Guttentag added that he is confident the University will be able to foot the bill if an atypical number of regular decision applicants qualify for need-based aid this year, and he said the success of the $300 million Financial Aid Initiative and the revamped financial aid program were emphasized in presentations to prospective students.

"We wanted to make sure that people understood that Duke's commitment was meaningful and had real substance," Guttentag said. "I completely believe that the efforts of the financial aid office will be able to mitigate any effects that our applicants may be feeling because of the economy."