MIT has made huge diversity gains this year, according to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education's 14th annual survey of the percentages of black first-year students at the nation's highest-ranked universities and liberal arts colleges.
This year's freshman class of 1,000 includes 81 black freshmen--8.1 percent. This is up from 55 blacks in the 2005 entering class.
"Our survey obtained information on the number of African-American applicants, their acceptance rates, enrollment numbers and yield rates (the percentage of students who eventually enroll in the college at which they were accepted)," the article said.
Among the 30 highest-ranked universities in the country, MIT ranked 12th in terms of black enrollment.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was number one with 12.3 percent of its 2006 freshman class.
"This recent progress is an outward reflection of our vigorous and sustained commitment to ensure that talented students from all walks of life have access to MIT," said Karl Reid, executive director of special programs for the School of Engineering. "While we are proud that African-Americans are coming to MIT in almost record numbers, we are even more proud that they, like all our students, are thriving both academically and socially at MIT."
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on December 13, 2006 (download PDF).
