The University admitted 917 Wahoo hopefuls via early decision last week, beginning to form the class of 2008 with a cadre of students remarkably similar to last year's.
"It's very much like last year -- and last year, statistically, was the strongest class we've ever enrolled," Dean of Admissions John A. Blackburn said. "So it looks like another great year."
Virginians account for more than 80 percent of the accepted students, a statistic that mirrors previous years, Blackburn said. In-state applications for early admissions are significantly higher than for regular admissions, making up 70 percent of the applicant body in November but only 35 percent in April.
Once regular admissions are factored in, the final class should be around two-thirds in-state students, as usual, Blackburn added.
This year's applicant pool also showed a significant increase in the number of minority students applying, with the number of international applicants tripling, the number of Hispanic students rising from 27 last year to 42 this year, and the number of African-American applicants shooting from 44 to 67.
Dean of African-American Affairs Rick Turner applauded the increase and praised the admissions office's recruitment efforts at Fall Fling.
"That's good news, it's a good sign that we are over that hump of declining enrollment," Turner said.
The most striking change in this year's applications was that 70 percent of students applied online, Blackburn said. Last year, 47 percent of early and regular admission applicants filed electronically and in 2001, 18 percent of applications were online.
"We've promoted it," Blackburn said. "It just makes it simpler for us, rather than keying all the applications in."
The 917 new students were selected from 2,366 applications. The University denied 330 applicants admission and deferred another 1,083. Last year, about 17 percent of deferred students were offered admission in April.
"We were trying for about the same level of exclusivity as last year," Blackburn said.
For the first time this year, evaluations of student portfolios sent to the art, music and drama departments were available to admissions officials for early decision applicants.
"We have some students coming in who are very talented in theater, in music and in art," Blackburn said. "That's a nice little additional enrichment."
Although the University currently is engaged in discussion with Student Council and other universities regarding binding early decision policies, Blackburn said he is satisfied with this year's process, and he expects the newly admitted students are as well.
"This is earlier than early action evaluations -- those are usually sent out in January," Blackburn said. "It's mainly for the students -- they want to know."
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