University Times

The number of students who have applied to be freshmen at the Pittsburgh campus in fall 2001 already has exceeded the total who applied for last fall.

And compared with the applicants to whom Pitt had offered admission at this time last year, slightly more of this year's accepted applicants graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school classes.

"The other big news is that the pool of African-American freshman applicants is 40 percent higher than at this time last year, and more of these students meet the University's admission standards," said Betsy A. Porter, director of Admissions and Financial Aid.

As of Feb. 1, 13,750 students had applied to be Pittsburgh campus freshmen next fall. That's 15.5 percent more than the number who had applied last year at this time, and more than the total 13,565 who applied during all of last year.

(Under the University's "rolling admissions" policy, Pitt doesn't set an official deadline for applications but continues to accept them as long as slots remain for qualified students.) "As of right now, it's impossible to say with absolute certainty what next fall's freshman class will look like in terms of academic credentials," Porter said. "But it's looking very, very positive."

Among the 8,252 freshman applicants to whom Pitt had offered admission as of last week, 39 percent (3,218) graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school classes. That's compared with 37 percent of 7,193 accepted applicants at this point last year.

Among the approximately 3,000 freshmen who actually enrolled at the Pittsburgh campus last fall, more than 1,000 graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school classes. In fall 1995, only 460 Pitt freshmen held that distinction.

As of last week, the University had received 1,804 freshman applications from African-Americans, compared with 1,294 at this point last year.

Pitt offered admission to 993 African-American freshmen last year. As of last week, the University already had offered admission to 911 African-Americans.

— Bruce Steele