<p>Should this article raise my hopes (about the AA part).
only 2,700 applications (out of 12,461) left to send and i have not received anything!</p>
<p>Story last updated at 9:48 PM on Mar. 3, 2005</p>
<p>Black applicant numbers at UGA mildly encouraging
Editorial</p>
<p>They don't tell the whole story, because the real indication of whether the University of Georgia's effort to increase the number of black students on campus is working won't come until the school knows how many of its current pool of black applicants will actually enroll. So news that the number of black undergraduate applicants is up significantly over last year at UGA, while it could be an encouraging sign, cannot yet be taken as evidence the university's multifaceted diversity effort might be getting some results.</p>
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Of course, some of the hard work of deciding which of the 12,260 applicants to the university - including the 1,108 blacks vying for a spot - remains for the school's admissions officials. Only when that work is completed will UGA officials know how many of the 1,108 black applicants have the credentials to gain admission, and it will be later still before the school knows how many of those offered admission will actually accept a spot here, or will opt for one of the other institutions to which they have almost certainly sent applications for admission.</p>
<p>A look at admissions trends for the last couple of years serves as something of a reality check. In 2004, 883 of the 13,171 applicants to UGA were black. But of the 4,495 students in the freshman class, only 202 - 4.5 percent of the class - were black.</p>
<p>In 2003, there were 903 black applicants among the 11,731 people seeking admission to the university. There were 5,190 students in that year's freshman class, of whom 273 - 5.3 percent of the class - were black.</p>
<p>So the percentage of black students in the freshman class had declined from 2003 to 2004.</p>
<p>Of course, that history does not necessarily presage a trend that will continue with the current pool of applicants. It could be that a significantly higher percentage of black applicants will end up enrolling in the 2005 freshman class. After all, while the number of black applicants is up by 225, from 883 to 1,108, the total number of applications for admission is down by 911, from 13,171 to 12,260.</p>
<p>Bob Spatig, senior associate director of admissions at UGA, said this week it appears the decline in overall applications is a result of fewer less-qualified students opting to seek admission to the school, where standards have been rising consistently. In other words, a number of potential applicants are deciding, on their own, that they don't qualify for admission. If that holds true for this year's black applicants, it's possible that a significant percentage could be offered admission to UGA. Unfortunately for UGA, it's also possible those students will enroll elsewhere.</p>
<p>Still, a 25 percent increase in the number of black applicants to the university in the space of a single year, and at a time when overall applications are down almost 7 percent, is an occasion for something more than cautious optimism. It's just that UGA officials probably ought to keep their fingers crossed until actual black enrollment numbers are known.</p>