Bates prepares for Class of 2005

Bates has had its third consecutive record year for new student applications, with 4,424 applications received for the incoming Class of 2005.

Just under a third of these applicants were offered admission, and approximately 600 are expected to be enrolled when fall semester starts Sept. 5.The ratio of women to men in the new class remains near parity, with 52 percent women and 48 percent men.

The Class of 2005 includes 55 U.S. citizens who identified themselves as racial or ethnic minorities, 37 international students, and another 22 students who hold dual citizenship in the United States and another country.

The top foreign countries represented in the first-year class include Japan with eight students, Jamaica with three and Korea and Thailand with two apiece. In all four class years, Bates has 90 students from 66 countries.

The Class of 2005 has the largest-ever representation of U.S. states: 41.

New England states provide 53 percent of the total, with 150 students from Massachusetts, 66 from Maine, 55 from Connecticut, 38 from New Hampshire and 10 each from Rhode Island and Vermont.

Other states with 10 or more students include New York (66), Pennsylvania (19), New Jersey (19), California (18), Maryland (17), Colorado (11), Minnesota (10) and Washington (10).

Of those students who were ranked in their high school classes, 89 percent ranked in the top 20 percent of their graduating classes.

This is the third year in a row that Bates has received a record number of applications. Bates received 4,384 applications in 2000 and 3,955 in 1999.