The class of 2004 is smart. According to Nancy Mackenzie, the assistant dean of admissions, the first-year class has the highest median SAT score a class has had since 1967. The Admissions office does not currently know its median ACT scores.
Admissions compiles the statistics of the entering class into a report every year.
The information is used to build a class profile and is also given to the Dean of Admissions and the Trustees. Not included in most of Admissions' statistics are international students. One issue that came up during the compilation of this year's report was the now infamous uneven gender ratio. The Admissions office claims that this is due to the fact that the percentage of students of color was relatively high in last year's entering class, at about 17 percent, as compared to 12 percent for Macalester overall. The class of 2004 also includes 49 National Merit Scholars, and that students come from 52 countries and 43 states.