Admissions deans say the competition to recruit students has become more intense because many of the most competitive students are applying to more universities than ever before - and thus are admitted to more of them. Even under ordinary circumstances, many elite universities must admit two to three times the number of students they expect to enroll as freshman in the fall, because so many decline offers of admission. Colgate, for example, sent acceptance letters to 2,200 students (out of 7,800 applicants) to yield a freshman class of 740. Swarthmore accepted 897 students (of 4,850 applicants) and expects 372 to enroll. \"It puts greater pressure on us to try to attract the students, because they do have more options these days,\" said Eric J. Kaplan, dean of admissions and financial aid at Lehigh University.