U. admits 31% of applicants for the fall

Of 15,459 applicants to the class of 2001, the University admitted 4,793 students, up from last year's 30 percent. The Admissions Office sent acceptance letters to 31 percent of the applicants to the class of 2001, up slightly from 30 percent last year. The University received 15,459 applications this year and admitted 4,793 students. Approximately 17 percent of these students were admitted early decision in December. "It was a very competitive process and another good year to build on last year," Admissions Dean Lee Stetson said. The mean Scholastic Aptitude Test score for admitted students was 1383 points, up slightly from 1380 last year. The average SAT Math score increased from 700 to 703, while the average SAT Verbal score remained at 680. And the mean SAT II subject test score rose from 681 to 686. Over 77 percent of the accepted students rank in the top 5 percent of their high school classes, and the admit pool includes 263 valedictorians and 194 salutatorians. "It was a strong pool and a challenging admissions process," Stetson said. "We spent many long days in the month of March getting the decisions made." The College of Arts and Sciences accepted 3,099 of its 10,072 applicants, down from 3,135 last year. Stetson said the goal is for 1,500 of the admitted students to matriculate in the College. The School of Engineering and Applied Science accepted 864 out of 2,552 applicants -- fewer than the 942 admitted last year -- aiming for 380 of these students to enroll. The Wharton School received 2,767 applications and accepted 561 students, a slight increase from the 541 admitted to the class of 2000. Stetson said he hopes to enroll 395 of these students. The School of Nursing accepted 107 applicants from a pool of 175 -- the same number of admits as last year. Officials expect a class size of 80. Among dual-degree programs, Wharton and the College accepted 63 of the 570 applicants to the International Studies in Business program, while 92 of 499 applicants were admitted to the Wharton and SEAS Management and Technology program. The new Nursing and Health Care Management program between Wharton and Nursing accepted seven of its 29 applicants. Applicants from the traditionally well-represented states of Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey make up 40 percent of this year's accepted pool, down from 44 percent last year. Stetson attributed this decrease to the fact that applications from these states fell 12 percent this year. He said he is pleased with the diversity of the admitted students. Almost 10 percent are from California, and more than 10 percent hail from the Midwest. Stetson noted that 469 of the 2,079 international applicants were accepted -- representing another 10 percent. The pool is 49.2 percent female, as opposed to 51 percent last year. Eight percent of the pool are legacies. The 1,923 minority students admitted represent 40 percent of the accepted applicants. African Americans make up 8.2 percent of the accepted students, 25.1 percent are Asian and 6.4 percent are Hispanic. Although only 17 Native Americans were accepted, Stetson noted that this is a substantial increase over the eight admitted last year.