The average member of the freshman class scored a 1416 on the SAT, and 23 percent of the class were valedictorians.
The Class of 2006 has the largest percentage of women and minorities in the school's history, according to Director of Admissions Katherine Fretwell.
The diversity of the class is quite an accomplishment, given that with 413 new students, the class has 22 fewer students than last year. "This was a deliberate decision on the part of the College because we wanted to ease the housing burden," said Fretwell.
She also notes that the class was drawn from over 331 high schools, a product of the outreach efforts the College has made to attract students from all over the country.
While there was reduced traveling around the country this year by the admissions office because of Sept. 11, the College had a record number of student visitors to campus.
The College has successfully continued its efforts to diversify the student body. They have aggressively recruited students of color in this and past years through programs such as the Student of Color Open House.
This year, the College offered case studies of sample applications during the open house and had students vote on who they would admit. "This made Amherst a memorable institution in students' minds," said Fretwell.
There was a high level of interest among international students and the College had a particularly high yield among this group, a sign of Amherst's growing international reputation. Six percent of the class is coming from other countries, which is one of the highest percentages ever.
"Even though I am an international student, I don't feel that different because there is such a diversity among the people that are from the states," said Hikaru Okamoto '06. "Most people don't know I am an international student if I don't tell them and that's comforting."
There is also a higher percentage of students receiving financial aid than in previous years with 46 percent of the student body receiving some form of support.
The admissions office's goal is to increase the number of students receiving aid again next year. "It is a wonderfully luxurious goal to have because not every institution is in a position to hope for that," said Fretwell.
In a class with arguably the highest percentage of valedictorians, the admissions office also worked hard to contact the most qualified candidates by mail with very specific messages.
There was also an unprecedented level of support from the faculty in recruiting this class. "My hope is that the Class of 2006 will use its many strengths to assist the College in recruiting future great classes," said Fretwell.