Frosh Facts

Hailed as the most diverse ever, with a record-breaking number of international students, the Class of 2007 came to campus in August. Of the 1,635 enrolled, 374 are in the Pratt School of Engineering.

More than 35 percent are minorities: 18 percent (288) are Asian, 10 percent (163) are black, and 7 percent (115) are Latino. Native Americans--American Indians, Native Alaskans, and Native Hawaiians--make up 0.2 percent of the freshman class.

Destination Duke: new student Jorge Gamez, who trekked from Laredo, Texas, by bus, drags his bags to his residence hall on East Photo: Jon Gardiner

Christoph Guttentag, director of undergraduate admissions, told the Durham Herald-Sun that the university made a conscious decision this year to offer need-based financial aid to international students. And his office made an effort to pay "greater attention to the recruitment of Latinos. The two areas where we felt as if there was room to improve were in the presence of Latino students and international students."

Also breaking a record is the number of applicants this year--16,723, compared with last year's approximately 15,900. Ranking in the top 5 percent of their class were 442 enrolled in Arts & Sciences and 117 in engineering--32 percent and 45 percent, respectively.

Of the 136 international students from forty-one countries, ninety-nine are foreign citizens, three are permanent residents, and thirty-four are U.S. citizens living and studying abroad. Domestically, the top five states in number of first-year students enrolled are North Carolina at 11 percent; New York, 10 percent; Florida, 7 percent; and Texas and New Jersey, both at 6 percent.

More than half--59.8 percent--of the first-year students attended public school, 36.9 percent came from private schools, 3.3 percent from parochial schools, and 0.1 percent were homeschooled.

jon gardiner