In the midst of religious violence, a young Middle Eastern girl is shot. The applicant's life-changing experience impresses upon her that religion should unify, not divide, and she expresses this in her admissions essay to the University.
Her acceptance letter was mailed on Friday.
This applicant is among 4,516 prospective students who will receive letters of acceptance to the class of 2005 over the next few days.
The admissions office mailed letters to the 14,085 applicants to the University notifying them of whether they had been accepted.
In November, the University notified 917 early decision applicants of their acceptance.
"This year's application pool was stronger than last year's," Assistant Dean of Admissions Valerie Gregorysaid. "That made it a lot harder to choose people, since the majority of applications were really good."
There were no major changes in the racial makeup of applicants, although the admissions office saw an increase in international applicants.
Applications increased overall by 4 percent, and international applications increased by 11 percent.
"The University is recognized as one of the best universities in the world, and internationally we are becoming better known," Dean of Admissions John A. Blackburn said.
U.S. News and World Report ranked the University along with the University of California-Berkeley as the best public colleges in the nation.
While the University of California-Berkeley proposed to eliminate the SAT I as a standard for admission, the University continued to use the SAT as a method of evaluating a student's eligibility for admission.
University of California-Berkeley's proposal "did not influence us at all," Gregory said. "We looked at the applications in the same way that we always have."
Most high school students accepted to the University are in the top 10 percent of their class, and the University looked for students boasting strong academic records, Blackburn said.
Admissions officials also sought students who are civic-minded and artistically talented. Other key factors that were considered were teacher and counselor recommendations as well as the ethnicity of the applicant, Blackburn said.
The class entering the University in 2000 boasted a median SAT I of 1310. Eighty-four percent of the students were in the top 10 percent of their class.
Blackburn said he believes the profile of the class entering in 2001 will be very similar.
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