The first members of the Class of 2012 have been notified this week that they have been accepted to Duke University.
This year, 1,247 high-school seniors applied and 472 were admitted under Duke's Early Decision program. Those who apply via this process know they want to attend Duke and commit to enroll at the university if they receive an offer of admission.
Of the students admitted through Early Decision, more than 25 percent are students of color, a new record for Early Decision. The group is almost evenly split among women and men, with 233 women and 239 men. Twenty-six international students were admitted.
The number of Early Decision applicants rose 5 percent over last year's 1,187. The Trinity School of Arts and Sciences will enroll 393 of the admitted students, while the Pratt School of Engineering will enroll 79.
In the application pool, North Carolina and Connecticut were the most represented states. There were also increases in students from Florida, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, and a sharp jump in international applications.
"I'm terrifically pleased with this year's group of applicants, and with the students we were able to admit," said Christoph Guttentag, dean of undergraduate admissions. "I was struck by the diversity of their talents and interests, and with the energy they bring to their academic and extracurricular pursuits. They're setting a high standard for our Regular Decision applicants."
Of the 1,247 who applied, 419 were deferred admission until the spring Regular Decision process and 280 were denied admission.
The students accepted through Early Decision comprise about 28 percent of the first-year class that will begin in fall 2008. Regular Decision, which takes place in the spring, accounts for the remaining 72 percent of the estimated total of 1,665 students Duke expects in the Class of 2012.
Duke's deadline for Regular Decision applications is Jan. 2. On Saturday, Duke announced it was expanding financial aid for lower- and middle-income families by eliminating parental contributions for families who make less than $60,000 a year and making it possible for students from families with incomes below $40,000 to graduate debt-free, among other things (see http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2007/12/financialaid.html).