Of the 369 students who applied early decision, a 16.4 percent increase from last year, 134 students, or 36.3 percent were accepted. Of these 134 students, 29, or 21.6 percent, are students of color.
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Tom Parker sees this as a strong step towards reaching the College's goal of roughly 30 percent students of color. He is looking to diversify even more in the second round of admissions to be completed this spring.
Women and men are evenly represented as of yet in the class; 67 students of each gender have already been accepted into the class. "Although parity is the goal, we rarely achieve such even numbers," said Parker. "It is nice to be able to go into regular decisions not having to focus on making too much on gender-related decisions."
The accepted members of the incoming class also have a strong academic composition, with an average SAT verbal score of 707 and math score of 709. Thiry-one are national merit semi-finalists.
Parker said that what he finds most interesting about the class, is the number of different schools represented. The 134 students matriculate from 116 schools. "Besides the sheer talent of the class, I am most excited about the large number of secondary institutions they represent," he said.
Parker also emphasized the almost equal percentage of students matriculating from private and public schools, 47 percent and 48 percent respectively, with the remaining five percent accepted from parochial institutions.
Parker expressed enthusiasm about the status of admissions for the class of 2006. "To go into regular decisions with this many students of color, from this many schools, who are this academically strong, is a great place to be," he said. "We are confident that nothing we did in the early admissions process will adversely effect anything we do later on."
Parker predicts that the overall application pool will be the second largest in the College's history.
However, Parker did express some concern about the general process of early admission."Students today feel too much pressure to apply early, to make a decision about college before they are ready," he said.
Parker said that he would like to be able to do away with early decision all together, but given that other colleges and universities across the nation are not prepared to take that step, he maintains that it is necessary for the College to offer it as well.
The application and admissions process for the class of 2006 will be completed mid-spring.