York University has maintained its number two position on the list of universities in Ontario most preferred by applicants. Statistics released today show that York was second only to the University of Toronto in the number of first-choice applications from prospective students for the 2006-2007 academic year. Students normally list their first, second and third choices of university when applying in Ontario. York also received the second-highest number of applications overall.
The 2006 figures, from the Ontario Universities Application Centre, confirm York has preserved its number two spot in first-choice applications – first achieved in 2005 – despite vigorous competition from many other universities.
Applications to Ontario universities by secondary school students (known as “101s” to administrators) are up by 1.6 per cent in 2006 over 2005. York’s numbers held steady, showing only a slight decline of one per cent on last year’s record numbers in first-choice applications and 1.8 per cent in overall applications. These numbers do not include applications from non-secondary school students, such as mature students, college/university transfers or overseas students.
“We saw some spectacular gains for York last year – particularly given a university of our size – and we have consolidated those gains this year,” said Vice-President Students Rob Tiffin. “What these numbers show is that students are specifically choosing York over other institutions. Where we are seeing a dramatic drop-off is in the number of students placing York further down their list of choices and this is affecting our overall applications number slightly. But the absolute number of students putting York as their first or second choice indicates that York continues to be a primary destination, not a backup.”
OUAC is the central provincial processing centre for applications to the Ontario university system.