April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Princeton University rejected 90.5 percent of applicants for its next freshman class, the highest percentage since at least 1953, mirroring a trend among many of its Ivy League peers.

Princeton accepted 1,791 students from a record pool of 18,942 applicants for a 9.5 percent admission rate, lower than the 10.5 percent rate for the current freshman class. This is the final year of Princeton's early decision process, through which 597 of accepted students received word in December.

Other Ivy League schools with low admission rates for the year include Harvard College, Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania. Princeton's low rate comes in a year when it plans to expand its freshman class by about two dozen slots, to 1,245 and add 500 undergraduates by 2012 for a total of 4,700.

``The size, depth and strength of this record applicant pool meant that we had to make some difficult decisions,'' Janet Lavin Rapelye, dean of admissions at the New Jersey school, said today in a statement. ``We wish we could have admitted more.''

Princeton's rate is the lowest since the university began tracking conclusive data. Officials think the rate might actually be the lowest in 200 years, spokeswoman Cass Cliatt said.

Increased Financial Aid

Many universities, including Princeton, Harvard and Penn, have more applications as they increase financial aid packages to eliminate loans for students with significant financial need.

Yale University's admission rate increased slightly this year, to 9.6 percent, up from last year's Ivy League record low of 8.9 percent. Yale, in New Haven, Connecticut, accepted 1,860 of 19,323 applications, admissions Dean Jeff Brenzel said today.

Those who applied through Yale's early decision program were admitted at a rate of 17.7 percent, compared with 5.8 percent for regular admissions.

Yale's rate remained in line with other Ivies that set record lows this year. Harvard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, accepted 8.9 percent of applicants, while Brown, in Providence, Rhode Island, accepted 14 percent. Penn, in Philadelphia, accepted 15 percent.

Dartmouth, Cornell

Dartmouth College accepted a record low 15 percent of its applicants, or 2,165 students. The Ivy school in Hanover, New Hampshire attracted over 14,000 applications, its largest pool ever, according to The Dartmouth, the college's daily student newspaper, citing Karl Furstenberg, the dean of admissions.

Cornell University, another Ivy, admitted 20.5 percent of 30,383 applicants, a record for the school, down from 24.7 percent a year earlier. The Ithaca, New York school has had a 24 percent increase in applications over the past two years.

Other highly selective universities across the country have acceptance rates in a similar range this year. Stanford University admitted 2,465 freshmen from among a record 23,956 applicants for a 10.3 percent rate. More than 75 percent of those offered admission had a grade point average of 4.0 or higher, the university, near Palo Alto, California, said in a statement.

Duke University applications dropped 1 percent this year, to 19,170, from a record high a year earlier. It admitted 3,770 students, or 19.7 percent of applicants. It accepted 43 percent of the 1,381 valedictorians who applied, the Durham, North Carolina, university said.

At many of the schools, including Princeton and Stanford, students have until May 1 to make their college choice.

To contact the reporter on this story: James M. O'Neill in New York at joneill6@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 2, 2007 15:02 EDT