2004 Class of 2008 Enters The Class of 2008 began classes at Swarthmore in September as the college opened the 2004-2005 academic year, its 136th year of instruction. The new class includes 189 women and 178 men for a total of 367 students. Of the 195 who graduated from high schools that report class rank, 26 percent were valedictorians or salutatorians, 46 percent were in the top 2 percent of their class, and 90 percent were in the top decile. Swarthmore's new first-year class comes from an original pool of 3,753 applicants, of whom 25 percent were offered admission. Of the domestic students in the Class of 2008, seven percent identify themselves as African American; 10 percent as Latina/o; and 16 percent as Asian American. One percent identify themselves as belonging to the category "Native American/Hawaiian native/other." Six percent of the class is made up of international students. Thirty-nine states are represented in the Class of 2008 as well as Guam and the District of Columbia. Members of the new class attended high school most frequently in New York, followed by New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Connecticut. In addition, 25 foreign countries are represented by international citizens and overseas U.S. citizens and permanent residents. The most popular anticipated major among the new freshmen is biology. Next are engineering, political science, history, physics, English literature, math, philosophy, and economics. As in years past, "undecided" is the biggest category.