A group of 131 students have been offered early admission to the Class of 2005, 21 percent of whom identified themselves as students of color, according to Director of Admission and Senior Associate Dean Katie Fretwell '81. The pool of applicants represented the highest number of students of color that have ever applied to the College, as well as the highest percentage of students of color applying within the early admission group, Fretwell added.

Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Tom Parker attributed the change to "more aggressive recruiting on the part of the admission office." He noted that the College usually holds only one Student of Color Weekend in the fall, but that two were held this year.

"We almost doubled the number of students that we brought to campus, and it has paid off both in early decision and regular decision," Parker said.

He also noted that since the current freshman class has such a high percentage of students of color, other students may be more attracted to Amherst "simply because diversity begets diversity."

For the first year in Amherst history, an equal number of men and women were admitted. Last year, just under 50 percent, or 63 of the 128 students admitted early, were female.

"We usually have a four or five percent difference between men and women," Fretwell said. "And we tend to see a few more men."

Although the number of students in the applicant pool fell by four percent from last year the quality of the pool as measured by standardized testing went up. Combined scores rose by three points from last year, with verbal scores increasing by six points on average and math scores going down by three points on average, Fretwell said. The number of students admitted rose by four from last year as a result.

"When the quality of the pool is up, the quality of the admit group is up," Fretwell said.

Information regarding the number of students accepted early decision who will receive financial aid cannot yet be determined, Fretwell said.

However, admission officers can often determine which students come from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds from their applications.

"It's pretty obvious when a student has a mother who's a seamstress and a father who's washing dishes that he's socio-economically disadvantaged," Fretwell said.

Director of Financial Aid Joe Paul Case said that "if patterns hold, early decision students are slightly less needy than the April group."

Although the College cannot offer merit-based scholarships, Fretwell said, the College "[feels] confident saying that our financial aid is strong enough."

The office of admission is targeting a slightly smaller class this year than last year-a shift from around 425 students to about 417, Fretwell said. She added that the target number is based on total enrollment at the College and not the number admitted per class from year to year.