Commons draws students of high talents to form Class of 2012.

Each new group of admitted students always seems to be better than the last. But with the draw of The Commons, the Class of 2012 might be even more exceptional than usual.

Exactly one week ago, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions sent out admission decision letters to what they refer to as a "truly historic" class of applicants, who, according to the Vanderbilt Admissions blog, "featured an amazing depth of personal and scholastic excellence - energy, passion, leadership and commitment to a range of ideals (diversity, community, humanity, service, etc.)."

As of mailing day, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions had received 16,875 applications, up 30.7 percent from the 12,911 applications they received last year.

In a year of historically low admissions rates, as The New York Times reported this week, Vanderbilt's acceptance rate also dropped — from 35.7 percent last year to 23 percent this year.

Of the admitted students, the average class rank was in the top 3.7 percent of their class; 92 percent of the students admitted were ranked in the top 90 percent. The middle 50 percent of SAT scores for the admitted students was 1380 to 1540 and the middle 50 percent for the ACT was 31 to 34.

And the admitted Class of 2012 is not only ranked higher than the rest of us, they are more diverse. Admissions for students of color increased from 27 percent last year to 30 percent this year, and both applications and admissions from students in the northeast, southwest and west coast increased. International applicants were considerably more interested in Vanderbilt as well — up to 739 this year from 444 last year.

All this information is readily available on the Office of Undergraduate Admissions blog, run by admissions officers Thom Golden, Ken Shows and James Onwuachi. Golden regards the blog as a "means of serving the information needs of our digital public."

"It only takes a few seconds into a Google search to discover the high level of interest and questions about Vanderbilt and especially Vanderbilt's admissions process," Golden said. "We were noticing that in many cases individuals were attempting to fill that information gap with wrong and/or misleading facts. The Vandy Admissions blog is an attempt to provide accurate information to interested students and parents in a simple online format as well as an effort to demystify the admissions process."

The blog has been highly successful among students and parents alike, who have sent e-mails, letters, phone calls and even plates of cookies to the admissions office as thanks.

"We have tried to open a window on the personal side of our office and on the admissions process itself," Golden said. "What is it like to read all those applications? We write about that. What's it like to visit countless numbers of high schools and stand behind a table at a college fair? We put that out there."

The most recent post on the blog addresses the waitlist, which this year, according to Dean of Admissions Doug Christiansen, is both larger and more qualified than in previous years.

"Ninety-five percent of students who were denied or put on the wait list could most surely do the academic work here," Christiansen said.

But in a time when all the applicants were extremely strong, Christiansen cites "the rigor of your curriculum in high school, if you took advantage academically of everything in your high school — AP and IB courses, class rank, GPA" as being key figures.

He additionally noted the growing importance of extracurricular involvement.

"It was important for students to not only be in a club, but to make a difference in their club, and have their recommendations talk about that," Christiansen said. "We wanted a group who had endeavored something in the ninth grade and pursued it all through high school."

The Vanderbilt Admissions blogger team agrees on this note.

"Vanderbilt approaches the review of your application in a holistic way, considering the applicant in his or her totality," said admissions officer Ken Shows blogged last Friday. "After countless hours spent reading your applications and discussing (sometimes heatedly) the merits of a student, we take a very brief moment to celebrate. The admissions staff is humbled by the quality of our applicants and (wishes) to congratulate the admitted Class of 2012."

—Nikki Bogopolskaya can be reached at veronika.bogopolskaya@vanderbilt.edu