PROVIDENCE – Brown University is one of two Ivy League schools to increase acceptance rates this year, admitting 9.6 percent of applicants to its Class of 2016 – up from 8.7 percent last year.

Brown announced March 29 that it offered 2,760 applicants a place at the university from a pool of 28,742.

“The Class of 2016, drawn from that remarkable pool of applicants, represents perhaps the most broadly talented and diverse class in Brown’s history,” James Miller, dean of admission, said in a statement.

Applications were down this year from the 30,948 students who applied in 2011, which was the university’s largest amount ever.

Of the other Ivy League institutions, only Columbia University also saw an acceptance increase, admitting 7.4 percent of its 31,851 applicants; up from 6.9 percent last year.

At Brown, 47 percent of accepted students were high school valedictorians or salutatorians.

The university said it anticipates an incoming class of 1,515. •