While a record-low percentage of students were offered admission to the Class of 2010, the yield rate for students choosing to enroll stayed level at approximately 50.5 percent.
Preliminary numbers recorded from decision letters sent in last week show favorable responses from 1,085 of the 2,150 admitted students.
"It's been a great year for us," said Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenberg, who added that the admissions office was concerned that this year's yield rate would be too high. "Every year gets more and more competitive ... and for Dartmouth to continue to attract a large pool and then to maintain the yield and bring in a group that's as strong and diverse as this is really a great result."
With four months remaining until the Class of 2010 arrives in September, Furstenberg noted that the numbers are still subject to change.
In the next few weeks, the number of students planning to matriculate may rise with late responses from students who were granted extensions.
According to Furstenberg, 20 to 25 members of the Class of 2010 will likely choose to defer their admission for a year.
A few students may also decide to repeal their decision to enroll after having received another offer of admission from a different college.
As the numbers now stand, Furstenberg said that the admissions office does not anticipate having to use its waitlist.
The statistical makeup of the Class of 2010 does not hold any particular surprises, Furstenberg said.
Of minor note, women dominate the largest ever proportion of the incoming class at 51.6 percent with 35 more women currently planning to enroll than men.
International students also reached record numbers with 71 planning to enroll next year, constituting 6.5 percent of the incoming class.
Meanwhile, the geographic diversity of students from the United States remained relatively constant, with slight increases in the number of students from the Northeast and decreases in students from the South and the West choosing to enroll.
The incoming class also appears to be slightly stronger academically than previous classes. Of the admitted students ranked by their high schools, 91.4 percent will graduate in the top 10 percent of their class.
While the new changes to the SAT implemented in March 2005 make it difficult to determine how the test results of the Class of 2010 compare to those of previous classes, the average scores appear to have stayed on par with previous years.
The level of diversity in next year's incoming class is similar to last year's numbers. Of the students planning to matriculate in the fall, 331 students or 30.5 percent identified themselves as students of color. The Class of 2010 currently has four more students of color than the Class of 2009.
The sons and daughters of alumni, known as legacies, will constitute approximately 11 percent of the Class of 2010, with 119 legacies choosing to matriculate, a proportion identical to that of the Class of 2009.
Regardless of any fluctuations in the statistical breakdown of the Class of 2010, Furstenberg is confident in the strength of the incoming class.
"Most importantly, the women and men who are going to be members of this class next September will add to making this an interesting place," Furstenberg said.
