Fewer blacks, greater overall diversity in new class

Despite a decline in the enrollment of black students, the level of minorities in the class of 1995 will hold even with last year's 32 percent mark, according to figures released this week by Undergraduate Admissions Dean Lee Stetson. The totals reflect a boost in the number of international students choosing the University, Stetson said, as international students will make up 11.3 percent of the incoming class, up from last year's 9.1 percent rating. "I think we are probably near the top in the Ivy League," Stetson said this week. "We have a very broad-based international recruitment program." He added that now that the University has passed the 10 percent mark that he hopes each future class will maintain that level. "The [applicant] pool supports that number," he said. The number of black freshmen fell this year, however, down from 146 in the class of 1994 to only 113 in the incoming crop of Quakers, Stetson added The yield of black students, or percent of accepted students who decided to enroll at the University, also fell, from 43 percent last year to 37 percent. "If the yield had held up, we would have been closer to last year's levels. There seems to be a movement of students toward state schools and predominantly black schools," Stetson said. "It was a combination of things that seemed to influence the process." Pippa Porter, the director of minority recruiting, said the uncertainty of the economic situation may also have discouraged some black students from considering the University. "Students are looking at a wider variety of schools," she said. "Cost is a major factor. A lot of students said they were directed by their parents to look at schools with smaller price tags." Stetson said admissions officers are already developing new programs to target more qualified black students for the class of 1996, including bringing students and high school counselors to campus earlier in the year, and participating in ten more minority college fairs around the nation. "I am sobered by the decrease in the number of black students in the class," he said. "It is a competitive world we're in, especially for the best students in the country." Porter agreed, saying admissions officers would work hard next year to bring more qualified black students to campus. Students from every state except West Virginia, Idaho, South Dakota and Wyoming are represented in the class, Stetson said, and combined with the large number of international students in the class, Stetson called the new freshmen "the most diverse class we have had." 12 percent of all entering freshmen, who this year averaged in the 96th percentile of their high school classes, are legacies or the children of alumni, Stetson said. He added that the University admitted about 60 percent of all legacies who applied. "I think that though we are in a difficult market, with the demographics against us, we still have one of our strongest classes in every way," Stetson said. The University's admission rate, which hit 47 percent this year, is one of several important statistics calculated by admissions officials, Stetson said, adding that the two point jump in overall yield from 49.3 to 51.6 is an encouraging sign for the process of selecting next year's class. "My hope is that we have plateaued, and we will be able to build a larger pool," he said. "Indications are positive for next year." Stetson said he looked for the University's admissions rate to "move into the 30s in the next three to five years."

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