Many prospective University students dashed to their mailboxes this past weekend in hopes of finding a letter of admission from the University.
Including both early and regular decision applicants, the University offered admission to 5,228 prospective students, a number down slightly from last year in which 5,534 offers were mailed.
"Most of them wait until the end of April to decide," Dean of Admissions John A. Blackburn said.
The University admitted a larger number of students under the early decision plan this year - 980 offers were made as opposed to 906 last year. This increase resulted in the total number of regular decision offers decreasing by about 300.
In the early decision pool, there were "considerably more applicants that were well qualified," Blackburn said.
Admissions officials aim to admit a class comprised of about 67 percent in-state students and 33 percent out-of-state students. Although two-thirds of total applications come from out of state, in-state prospectives are more likely to accept the University's offer than are their out-of-state equivalents.
Most in-state students come from Northern Virginia, and the majority of out-of-state students hail from large cities and the Eastern seaboard.
The University uses a gender blind admission procedure, and this year, more women than men applied. Consequently, 2,832 women were offered admission as opposed to 2,396 men.
The Office of Admissions cites the ideal class of 2006 size as 2,979 students. This breaks down into 2,335 College students, 510 Engineering students, 86 Architecture students and 48 Nursing students.
"We'll be close to that," Blackburn said.
Each individual school within the University requires its own specific qualifications for admission, and officials evaluate applicants based on those separate criteria.
The Engineering School expects prospective students to have a very strong background in math and science. College students are expected to excel in math and science, as well as the humanities. The University seeks creative students who can create new concepts and designs to enroll in the Architecture School.
For the Nursing School, "we want people who truly want to be nurses eventually," Blackburn said.
The numbers for admitted minority students, such as blacks and Hispanics, remain about the same as last year. Figures are "in the range of 600 offers for African-American students," Blackburn said.
"We may have wait list activity in May and June, so these numbers may go up slightly by the end of the summer," he added.
Initial fears of decreased international applicants because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks proved unfounded.
"We expect another class with a sizeable number of international students," Blackburn said.
Last year's class included about 5 percent international students, and this also should be the case for the class of 2006.
Officials screen applications by a two phase process. In phase one, two readers examine each application and label it as either "well qualified" or "poorly qualified."
About half of the applications survive to phase two in which a committee, made up of two to four deans, decides to offer admission or place them on the waiting list.
After May 1, officials reevaluate applicants placed on the waiting list based upon how many students accepted offers of admission to each of the University's schools.
This year, approximately 1,900 students were placed on the waiting list, and typically between 60 and 250 of those students eventually receive an offer of admission.
Many students now are faced with a life-changing decision.
"I looked at both U.Va. and William and Mary seriously, and I still haven't decided between them yet," said Ali Faruk, a senior at C.D. Hylton High School who received an offer of admission yesterday. "I guess my parents and I will be sitting down and looking at what I plan to do in the future"
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