A record 7.9 percent of applicants were admitted to the Class of 2020, a decline from last year’s admission rate of 8.4 percent.

This record low is consistent with years of declining admission rates, starting from 40.3 percent in 2005. Since 2011, when 16 percent of applicants were admitted, this rate has been more than halved. Since 2009, the year the College began accepting the Common Application, the admission rate has decreased by 71.8 percent.

This year, 31,411 students applied to the College’s Class of 2020, the largest applicant pool in the College’s history, and of them 2,482 were admitted, an increase in both number of applicants and selectivity. There was a 4 percent increase in applications from last year. Since 2005, in which the College received 9,042 applications, there has been a 247.4 percent increase in applications.

“The factors that likely affected this year’s rise in applications include expanded financial aid and career development through No Barriers, and new academic opportunities such as the new major in molecular engineering,” Deputy Dean of Admissions Peter Wilson said.

Additionally, 12,015 students, 38.3 percent of total applicants, applied Early Action, a 217 percent increase from 2009.

The yield rate, which measures the number of students who accept their offers of admission, for the Class of 2020 was 66 percent, up from 61 percent last year and marking a 30 point increase from the yield rate for the Class of 2013.

Like University of Chicago, many other colleges reported a decrease in admission rates this year. Stanford (4.69 percent), Harvard (5.20 percent), Columbia (6.04 percent), Yale (6.27 percent), Princeton (6.46 percent), and M.I.T. (7.81 percent) all reported lower admission rates than UChicago, and admission rates to all six colleges declined.