Final Demographics For Class of 2011 Released
The demographic breakdown of the Class of 2011 has been released, with gender and ethnicity statistics comparable to last year’s.
Of the 1,069 students expected to enroll, 46 percent are female and 54 percent are male, according to Interim Director of Admissions Stuart Schmill ’86.
Of the 3,526 female applicants, 21 percent were admitted to the Institute. Only 9 percent of the 8,919 male applicants were admitted. Schmill said that these data are often misconstrued and that it is not any easier for women to get into MIT. “The women that apply are more self-selecting so the talents of the women that apply and enroll are every bit as comparable to that of the men,” Schmill said.
African Americans make up 9 percent of the class, comparable to the Class of 2010’s 8 percent but an increase from the 6 percent of the previous three classes. (See the tables on page 10 for additional statistics.)
The remaining Class of 2011 is 38 percent Caucasian, 26 percent Asian American, 7 percent Mexican American, 1 percent Native American, 2 percent Puerto Rican, and 3 percent other Hispanic. One percent is of other ethnic descent, 8 percent are international students whose ethnicity was not polled, and 5 percent did not respond.
The Class of 2011 represents all but one state (North Dakota) and 58 countries, with 8 percent of students arriving as international undergraduates. Ninety-two percent of the students are U.S. citizens and permanent residents.
The percentage of admitted students choosing to enroll has steadily increased since the 2003 yield of 58.8 percent for the Class of 2007. The final yield for the Class of 2011 was at a record 68.8 percent, with 1,069 students of the total 1,553 admits expected to enroll, Schmill said.
According to Schmill, 81 percent of Early Action admitted students and 85 percent of students admitted from the waiting list chose to enroll this year.
According to Schmill, those who chose not to enroll at MIT instead enrolled at Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, or Yale.
Geographically, the greatest fraction of students comes from the West coast and Southeast region (including Puerto Rico); each area makes up approximately 19 percent of the incoming freshman class. Fifteen percent of the students represent the Mid-Atlantic states, 13 percent the Midwest and Plains states, 12 percent the New England states, and 12 percent the South and Southwest states. The remaining 10 percent is distributed abroad.
Additionally, this year’s incoming class hails from 833 different high schools, a 5 percent increase from the previous year, according to Schmill. Sixty-nine percent of the class attended public schools while 14 percent attended private schools, 9 percent religious schools, 6 percent foreign schools, and less than 1 percent participated in home schooling.