MIT has accepted 524 of 1,900 applicants for early admission in September 1997, 418 of whom are in the top 5 percent of their high school graduating class, including 129 class valedictorians.
The other 1,376 will be considered for acceptance along with the pool of general applicants. A year ago, 511 of the 1,751 early-admission candidates were accepted and 351 matriculated. Of the remaining 1,240, 141 were admitted along with 1,295 who applied by the regular action deadline (January 1).
Students who were offered early admission have until May 1 to decide whether to join the class of 2001.
The mean Scholastic Aptitude Test scores for this year's candidates were 726 verbal and 763 in math. The corresponding scores last year were 722 and 764.
This year's early acceptances included 218 women, or 42 percent of the group, and 306 men. Of these, 126 indicated that they intended to concentrate in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and 58 in the Department of Biology.
Last year, the early acceptances included 199 women, or 39 percent of the group, and 312 men.
The number of African-Americans among the early acceptances dropped from 23 a year ago to 15. This year's group includes 44 Mexican-Americans, Native Americans and Puerto Ricans. Last year, there were 37 Mexican-Americans, Native Americans and Puerto Ricans.
Early acceptances this year included 140 Asian-Americans, or 27 percent of the total. A year ago, there were 151 Asian-Americans comprising 30 percent of the group.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on January 15, 1997.
