09/17/93
CONTACT: Stanford University News Service (650) 723-2558
STANFORD - Most of the freshmen who will enroll at U.S. colleges this fall were born in 1975, the bottom of the 1970s baby bust.
Yet, despite heated competition among colleges this year for the best and brightest applicants, Stanford still managed to enroll a high proportion of the nation's most qualified students, according to the university's Office of Undergraduate Admissions.
Of the 1,616 freshmen who will arrive on campus Sept. 23,
73 percent had high school grade point averages of 3.8 to 4.0, 22 percent had verbal SAT scores of 700 or above, and 59 percent had math SAT scores of 700 or above, about the same as last year (see box).
The students were selected from 13,608 applicants, a 3 percent increase over the previous year. Admission was offered to 2,926 applicants, or 22 percent of the total.
The university's "yield rate" - the percentage of admitted freshmen who decided to enroll at Stanford - held steady at around 55 percent, according to James Montoya, dean of undergraduate admissions.
"We're very pleased with the yield rate this year," Montoya said, "especially considering the cost factors that parents must think about when sending their children to independent schools."
The class includes representatives from all 50 states. The largest state representation among entering freshmen remains California, with 42 percent (up 2 percent over last year), followed by Texas, New York, Washington, Illinois and New Jersey. Five percent of the freshmen are international students.
Females represent just about half of the Class of 1996, while African American, Mexican American, American Indian and Asian American students make up 45 percent of the freshman class, about the same as last year.
Stanford also has 120 undergraduates enrolling this year who have transferred from other schools (compared to 143 last year). Of these, 72 percent are coming from four-year colleges and universities; the rest are from community colleges.
A third of the new transfer students are either African Americans, Mexican Americans, American Indians or Asian Americans. Forty-six percent have a combined SAT score of 1300 or above, and 72 percent have a college grade point average of 3.6 to 4.0, compared to 64 percent last year.
Staff members in Stanford's Office of Undergraduate Admissions now are preparing for the next round of applicants by visiting high schools and hosting regional information meetings across the country.
Applications for the class entering in 1994 are due on Dec. 15. More information may be obtained by calling the Office of Undergraduate Admissions at (415) 723-2091.
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