The Office of Admissions sent decision letters to regular decision applicants for the Class of 2014 on Thursday, March 25, concluding an extremely competitive process that is projected to yield one of Bowdoin's most diverse classes to date.
Out of a total pool of 6,019 applicants, 951 were admitted through regular decision, generating an acceptance rate of 19.7 percent for regular and early applications combined, according to Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Scott Meiklejohn. It is projected that approximately 245 students accepted through regular decision will join the Class of 2014, making for a total incoming class of about 485 students.
Meiklejohn said that in terms of economic diversity, the Class of 2014 will look "very similar to last year," with 41 to 42 percent of students receiving financial aid.
"It's a very socioeconomically diverse class," he said.
While the geographic distribution and diversity of the Class of 2014 also resemble data from previous years, important increases in applications from students of color and from students residing outside of New England reveal developing demographic trends.
This year's applicant pool contained the largest number of applications from students of color ever recorded and a record number of students of color were accepted to Bowdoin through the early decision process.
There are 154 students of color in the Class of 2013, and Meiklejohn projected that the number will be in the same range for next year's entering class.
The number of African-American students admitted to Bowdoin is the highest recorded in three years, and the number of accepted Native American students is also at an all-time high of 28.
Assuming a yield of 24 percent, Meiklejohn projected that the geographic distribution of the Class of 2014 will be very similar to that of previous years, allowing for increases in students from midwestern and western states.
Over the past three years, the number of admitted students from the western states has risen from 169 accepted in the Class of 2012 to 202 accepted in the Class of 2014. One hundred ten students from the Midwest were accepted for the Class of 2012, compared to 124 accepted for the Class of 2014.
This year saw a decrease in total applications from every state in New England except for Connecticut, although New England still sends more applications to Bowdoin than any other geographic area.
On the geographic shift in accepted students, Meiklejohn said, "we are seeing that nationally, the demographic facts show that fewer students will be graduating from high school in New England over the next few years...there are fewer people in New England than in states like Texas and California."
Meiklejohn reported that of the accepted students, 58 percent attended public school, 33 percent attended private school and 11 to 12 percent attended parochial school.
Forty-nine states and 30 countries are represented in the total pool of admitted students; 80 international students have been admitted to the Class of 2014.
Because of the competitiveness of the regular decision pool and the limited size of the incoming class, transfer admission to Bowdoin will be extremely selective this year. Meiklejohn said, "as usual, transfer admission will prove much harder than regular admission to the College." Admissions is looking to add about three transfer students to the total number of incoming students in the fall.
Accepted students have until May 1 to notify the College of their decisions.
Correction: Due to a reporting error, the earlier headline stated that the acceptance rate for regular decision was 19.1 percent. This number is incorrect. The overall acceptance rate for early and regular decision students is 19.7 percent..