Hopkins' Admissions report a 69-percent increase in the number of minority student applications since 2003.
Two-thousand and seventy applications from African-American, Latino and Native American students were reviewed in 2007, a stark contrast to 1,220 from three years ago.
According to Director of Admissions John Latting, the growth in applications can be attributed to the use of current students and alumni in recruiting students from related backgrounds.
"We sought to use minority students at Hopkins to help us," Latting said. "And we are trying to use alumni of color to help with recruitment."
The large increase may also be due in part to changes made to the list of priorities in the Office of Admissions. When Latting joined the admissions staff in the fall of 2001, he felt that the attraction of prospective minority students was not pursued to the fullest extent.
"Looking at what was going on at that time, it seemed like the recruiting of under-represented individuals had not been a priority for the office," he said.
"However, we sent [the recruitment of minority students] straight to the top of our agenda."
In terms of minority student admittances over the last five years, the rising trend is fairly comparable to that of the amount of applications. From 2002 to 2006, the number of total admittances spiked 37 percent.
However, the minority admit rate (number of applications/number of admittances) has significantly decreased. In 2002, over half of those minorities who applied were admitted, while in 2006, less than one-third of applications were accepted.
The University enrolled 171 underrepresented minorities in 2006, the largest total in the history of the school. Currently, 14 percent of the freshman class is composed of minority students, a number that excludes Asian-Americans.
"Asian-Americans are a minority population in the country," Latting said. "But in terms of under-represented ethnic groups in higher education it's 14 percent and that would be for African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans."
The numbers from the Early Decision Summary provided by the Office of Admissions showed a slight dip in the number of minorities accepted ED in 2007, down 14 percent from the previous year. Of the 447 students that were admitted early decision, 43 were from underrepresented ethnic groups.
"We are admitting the very high end of the minority pool and continuing to be selective when it comes to admitting all students," Latting said. "However, the early decision class is not the freshmen class."
Over the last ten years, a three percent increase in the percent yield (number of enrolling/number of admits) for minority students suggests, in Latting's opinion, that interest is gradually growing amongst ethnic groups faced with the decision of joining the Hopkins community.
"The whole insight, I believe, is that this is happening because there are more minority high school students out there who are saying, `I can see myself going to Hopkins. Maybe I would fit in there,'" Latting said.
After the racial controversy surrounding the campus this past fall, many people have wondered out-loud whether or not this incident will severely effect the enrollment of minority students.
When asked whether or not he believed the tensions caused by such an event has affected enrollment, Latting was relatively unsure.
"There is not an effect to be seen yet," he said. "However, I'm not saying it's not going to happen in April after regular decision kids are admitted."
"Will I be watching this with the question. `Is our yield on admitted students going to be affected by the [incidents of the fall]?'" Latting said. "I don't know because it's too early to tell."
Overall, the statistics imply that Homewood is becoming more diverse. Having made it a priority to attract a larger minority population by utilizing multi-cultural student volunteers, Latting believes the community of different perspectives will continue to grow.
"As long as all kinds of people continue to think about and talk about Hopkins, we'll grow with the momentum," he said.
