Once again, College administrators say next year's class will be the smartest group of first-year students ever, as the College's acceptance rate for the Class of 1999 dipped to 21.6 percent.
A little more than 10,000 high-school students applied to be members of the Class of 1999. Acceptance letters were mailed to the 2,163 students who were accepted to the class, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg said.
"It's really been a good year," Furstenberg said.
According to statistics from the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid applications to the College have increased for five consecutive years, with this year's number showing a 4.8 percent increase from last year.
The College admitted 10 students more than last year, but still more than 100 less than two years ago.
According to Admissions Office statistics, the Class of 1999 hails as the most diverse group of students in the College's history, with women representing 48.8 percent of accepted applicants and minorities composing about 29 percent.
With applications up 20.3 percent compared to the applicants for the Class of 1995, the College enjoys a pool with both strong academic promise and a broad range of talents and interests, Furstenberg said.
Furstenberg said the overall competitiveness of the applicant pool has been elevated because of the increasing name recognition of the College and its options for students.
The College admitted 287 Asian-American students, 169 African-American students, 126 Latino students and 46 Native American students.
The current SAT verbal mean for the Class of 1999 is 649, a two-point increase over last year's mean of 647, and the SAT math mean jumped 10 points from 703 to 713.
The number of valedictorians admitted to the Class of 1999 increased to 39 percent from 33 percent last year. Ninety-one percent of students in the Class of 1999 are ranked in the top 10 percent of their class, compared to 92 percent for the Class of 1998.
