Admissions figures echo Class of 2007

Nearly four out of every five high school seniors who applied to be a member of Duke's Class of 2008 had to make other plans for the fall. But preliminary numbers describing the 81st class to matriculate at the University reveal a handful of interesting trends--many of them continuations of patterns observed in years past.

Director of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag released statistics indicating that the Class of 2008 will be very similar to its immediate predecessor. The Office of Undergraduate Admissions handled 16,714 applications this year. "[It was] as close as we can be to the 16,719 applications processed in 2003," Guttentag said.

"This year was a lot like last year," he said. "[The applicants] really caught our attention last year; it's a little harder to improve upon that. Still, I'd hate for anyone to be disappointed with this class."

The past two years have constituted a significant bump in application numbers, an increase Guttentag credits to a colorful new viewbook which premiered in 2002.

Of the thousands of applicants, only 3,780 were admitted, yielding an admissions rate of 22.6 percent. In 2003, Duke admitted 23.2 percent of its applicants; this percentage has been decreasing steadily for years. At press time, 1,644 potential students had accepted their places in the class, and Guttentag said he hopes that this number will fall to somewhere around 1,618 by the beginning of fall.

"What happens is that some students will get off of other schools' waiting lists, and some will defer their admission for a year," he said, adding that having more students than hoped for is "very typical" at this time of year.

The most notable trends in the applicant numbers disclosed by Guttentag are the increases in the number of students seeking places in the Pratt School of Engineering and in the proportion of students from either North or South Carolina.

More than 2,900 high school students applied to Pratt, and this number has been increasing steadily for four years. In Fall 2005, there will be a 50-student increase in Pratt. Guttentag attributes the growth in the number of applications to an increased focus on engineering in the Admissions Office, which has devoted one staff member primarily to engineering applications.

"We've been a little more aggressive [with potential engineering students]," Guttentag said. "We're doing this so there won't be any sacrifice in quality when the class size increases."

Of the Class of 2008, 17 percent are from the Carolinas, up from 14 percent last year. Guttentag cited an improved economy as a reason more Carolina natives would opt for Duke over cheaper public colleges and universities.

The new class currently is comprised of 280 Asian students, 101 Latino students and more than 180 black students. This represents approximately the same number of Asian students, a decrease of 17 Latino students and an increase of more than 20 black students as in the class of 2007.

"These are relatively small [changes]," Guttentag said. "I think they're not part of a big trend."

No data has yet been released on the grade-point averages, class rank or SAT scores of the Class of 2008, but Guttentag characterized the incoming class as strong students.

"In terms of academic qualifications, they are pretty much the same as last year's class," Guttentag said. "I'm pleased that this is the first class I will present to President [Richard] Brodhead."