A BOY-COTT? Number Of Applicants to UVA Drops For First Time Since 2002.

The university also has become more selective, as acceptance rates fell from about 38 percent in 2005 to about 30 percent last year.

But despite a big boost in early applications, the number of overall applications went down. The early applications were due before the release of an article in Rolling Stone — now largely discredited — detailing an alleged gang rape at UVa.

The due date came after the nationally publicized search for second-year student Hannah Graham, whose body was recovered in Albemarle County on Oct. 18.

The administration does not yet know what’s driving the decline, de Bruyn said.