"I think that academic quality and racial and socioeconomic diversity are twin indicators of admission's success, and we did very well in both cases," Parker said.
Parker said that the College accepted 967 applicants (19 percent), in hopes that the Class of 2005 will have 420 students matriculate. Additionally, 735 students were placed on the waiting list and 20 to 30 will probably be offered admission to the College eventually.
Parker added that, while the College had overenrolled students for the past three years, the number of admits was cut this year to ensure that this did not happen again. In order to reach the target number of 420 students, students will necessarily be accepted from the wait list.
Although Parker said that he is unable to predict what the total composition of the class will be until students have matriculated, he said the College accepted 464 men and 503 women. The average SAT verbal score was 718 and the average math was 707.
Three students were home schooled, 34 percent went to private schools, five percent went to parochial schools and 61 percent went to public school.
Parker said that 90 percent of the admits were in the top 10 percent of their high school class, and 137 of the admits were valedictorians. They included 125 African-Americans, 97 Latino/as, 143 Asian-Americans, three Native Americans, 51 international students and 59 students of mixed heritage, a group that continues to grow in applications and admits, according to Parker.
However, only 48 percent of the National Merit Semifinalists who applied were accepted.
"You could fill the class several times over with wonderful students from the applicant pool," Parker said.
He added that like last year, the application pool was extremely talented and admission into the College was competitive as expected. He noted that the average applicant SAT scores (682 verbal, 681 math) were only slightly lower than those of the admitted students.
"I expect the Class of 2005 will be as talented as 2004, and I hope it will also be as diverse," Parker said.
While the actual composition of the class remains to be seen, the accepted students will likely visit in the upcoming weeks, most during the accepted student open house on April 22 and 23.
"We've admitted them, now it's up to the faculty and students to make them want to come," Parker said.