A total of 3,241 freshmen selected from more than 21,800 applicants accepted offers of admission into the Class of 2010, admissions director Lou Hirsh told UD’s Board of Trustees during its semiannual meeting May 23.

“The average high school grade point average of 3.56 and class rank [top 16 percent] are the highest they have ever been,” Hirsh said. “Although the new SAT has made it difficult to compare this year’s class with previous classes, when we measure verbal ability by looking at both the new SAT critical reading and writing scores, it appears that the incoming class is at least as strong as last year’s record-setting class and perhaps even stronger.”

Class of 2010 applicants come from the District of Columbia, 14 foreign countries and 36 states, including Delaware, Hirsh said. “Just over 1,000 of our freshmen are from Delaware,” he said. “This is a smaller number than last year, when we enrolled 1,174 Delawareans, and is the result of this year’s change in our admission requirements.”

Despite the more rigorous academic requirements, 86 percent of Delawareans applying to UD gained admission to either the Newark campus (60 percent) or to the Associate in Arts Program (26 percent), while 43 percent of out-of-state students were accepted, Hirsh said.

Hirsh said that the new Commitment to Delawareans is being launched this fall. The commitment spells out a four-year high school curriculum that students in Delaware will be encouraged to pursue if they want to be confident of preparing themselves for admission to the Newark campus.

The University’s Associate in Arts Program will enroll close to 300 freshmen at UD Academic Centers in Wilmington, Dover and Georgetown, Hirsh said.