Yale Admits Most Diverse Class

New Haven, Conn. — Over 39% of the students matriculating in September for the Yale College Class of 2011 have identified themselves as members of minority ethnic and racial groups, a record proportion for a freshman class.

Yale will also welcome among this year’s freshmen the highest proportion in recent years of students who intend to pursue studies in science and engineering, with about 37% of the entering class indicating one of these areas as a primary interest.

“Our outreach to minorities and disadvantaged students, as well as to students with strong records of achievement in the sciences, produced record numbers of outstanding applicants,” said Jeff Brenzel, dean of undergraduate admissions. “We simply could not be more pleased with the results in both areas.”

For the third straight year, over 70% of the students offered admission to Yale will matriculate in September, marking the continuation of Yale’s exceptional appeal to the best students in the nation and the world. The new class has representatives from all 50 states and 42 foreign nations.

“We deeply appreciate the Yale students, faculty and alumni who reach out on our behalf to admitted students,” said Brenzel. “Our entire Yale community communicates with passion and conviction about the incomparable educational experience available here.”

“Our office makes a continuous and energetic effort to reach each new generation of high school graduates,” said Jeremiah Quinlan, director of outreach and recruitment. “Admissions officers are on the road throughout the spring, summer and fall to give public presentations in many hundreds of cities and schools across the country and around the world. We also employ over 4,000 volunteer alumni interviewers, plus hundreds of Yale students as tour guides, pen pals, callers, bloggers, interviewers, presenters and hosts for visiting students.”

A large contingent of Yale faculty from every department also makes itself available for April’s Bulldog Days, which brought a record number of 1,077 admitted students for a three-day stay on the campus and a sampling of all things Yale. “The financial aid office stays open for long days, the students open their dorm rooms, student organizations put themselves on display and the faculty make themselves available with a generosity that goes far beyond what most colleges can muster,” said Quinlan. “We receive extraordinary help in exhibiting Yale’s remarkable culture of citizenship and community.”

Yale also remains fully committed to ensuring that academically qualified students of all income levels have the opportunity to attend. For 40 years, the admissions office has not asked whether a family can pay for a Yale education when deciding whether to make an offer of admission, and Yale supplies the full amount of aid required to meet the determined financial need for every single undergraduate.

Over 42% of Yale’s undergraduates receive need-based scholarship aid from the University itself, and an additional 22% receive financial assistance from other sources. Yale’s annual budget for financial aid to undergraduates is over $60 million, more than double the $30 million that was expended as recently as 2000, and the average Yale grant to financial aid students for 2006-07 was more than $24,000. Families with incomes below $45,000 per year are no longer asked to make any contribution to the cost of a Yale education, and the average indebtedness at graduation for Yale students who use loans to help finance their educations has fallen below $13,000, about half the national average at private colleges and universities.

Recognizing the importance of globalization, Yale also provides grant support for summer study and internships abroad. Grants cover not only the full cost of a summer experience, but also the amount that students would otherwise be expected to contribute from summer earnings, freeing every Yale undergraduate on financial aid to undertake an international experience.