The Bowdoin College Admissions Office saw its largest applicant pool ever with 7,251 prospective students hoping to join the Class of 2021.

The incoming first-year class is also the most diverse to date, with students of color making up 34% of the class, and first-generation students, for whom neither parent has a four-year degree, making up 16.5%.

This made for the most selective year ever with a 13.5% admit rate and a yield rate, the percentage of students who choose to enroll after having been offered admission, of 52%.

Bowdoin is providing need-based, no-loan student aid packages to 52% of the Class of 2021, up from 47% one year ago, with the average financial aid package totaling $43,000 per student.

“We are excited about the tremendous talent, intellect, and diversity represented in the Class of 2021,” said Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Whitney Soule. “We look forward to welcoming them to the Bowdoin community this fall.”

These students come from 406 high schools in 42 states and the District of Columbia, and from 29 countries.

Members of the Class of 2021 will begin to arrive on campus August 22, 2017, for Orientation trips organized through the Bowdoin Outing Club and the Joseph McKeen Center for the Common Good. Classes begin August 30.