Parker believes the increase indicates a shift away from regular decision in favor of early decision. He does not expect a significant increase in the total number of applications over last year.
"I'm disappointed about the direction we're heading. Some prestigious schools accept more than half of the entering class early decision, and this puts pressure on the kids to apply early decision," said Parker. "Early decision is good for students who really love Amherst and want to come here, but it's the wrong thing for students who just want to get into a school."
Comparable liberal arts colleges such as Swarthmore and Williams Colleges have experienced a similar increase in early decision applicants.
Swarthmore has received 250 early decision applications, a 30 percent increase from last year, while Williams' 491 early decision applications indicate a 10 percent increase.
According to Kennon Dick, Swarthmore's associate dean of admissions, Swarthmore's total number of applications is expected to decrease five percent, indicating a similar shift towards early decision to the college.
The increase in the number of liberal arts college's early decision applicants follows a similar trend at Ivy League institutions.
Harvard received 6,128 early action applications, 0.5 percent more than the previous year. This increase indicates a leveling off following the massive increases during the 1990s.
This fall, Brown University replaced early action with the binding early decision program, causing its number of early applications to decrease 36 percent.
The acceptance rate at Amherst, which was 19 percent last year, is also expected to decrease by a percentage point or half a percentage point, in order to achieve a target figure of 420 for the class of 2006.
"We have overenrolled over the past two years and we would like to see a decrease in the entering class," said Parker.
"Amherst tries to avoid giving an admissions advantage to early decision applicants. We are very conservative in this aspect and we accept no more than thirty or thirty-one percent of our class early," said Parker.
Nonetheless, the admissions rate at the College is significantly higher for early decision applicants-41percent last year as compared to 19 percent for regular decision candidates.
"More children of alumni and recruited athletes apply early," said Parker. "We generally have a larger proportion of stronger candidates in the early decision pool."
Early decision applications are also showing greater diversity at Amherst this year, with 58 students of color applying early. "This is the highest number of students of color that we've had applying early decision in the last six years. We're happy about the results we're seeing from the programs we've implemented to encourage diversity," said Parker.
When asked their own views about the early decision process, most officials agree that it was not helpful to the admissions process.
"I'm not really in favor of it," said Dick."It's useful for students who have really done their homework and want to apply early, but there's an unhealthy pressure these days on students to apply early. Also, financial aid applicants who apply early receive less grants and more loans and less money overall."
"This is the strongest applicant pool we've had in the past six years." said Parker. "The quality of the applicant pool just keeps getting better."