A record number of applications to the School of Foreign Service and the largest number of Hispanic applicants in Georgetown’s history made this fall’s undergraduate applications process stand out from those of previous years, administrators said.

With slightly over 15,000 applicants, the university’s application numbers remained stable with regard to geographic distribution and minority representation, however.

“Everything is going smoothly, probably due to the stable environment and pool,” said Charles Deacon, dean of undergraduate admissions.

The university received almost exactly the same amount of undergraduate applications as it did last year, when just under 15,300 students applied for admission into the class of 2009.

The SFS had an unprecedented 2,845 applicants, the largest number in the school’s history.

The increase in SFS applications “has been a continuation of the trend since Sept. 11,” Deacon said. “I think it’s a result of the continuing increase [in interest] about the world . and since 9/11, diplomacy.”

“The increase in the SFS and Latino pool is an ongoing trend,” he said.

Hispanic applicants constituted 1,140 of the applications. Deacon credited the increase in Hispanic applicants to the growing population of Hispanics nationwide, as well as Georgetown’s continuing recruitment efforts in heavily Hispanic areas like Texas and California.

Deacon said that the number of applicants representing other minority groups remained consistent with last year’s admissions season, in which 7 percent of applicants were black, 10 percent Asian and less than 1 percent Native American. The number of international applicants this year remained steady at 8 percent.

Applications from women also rose this year to 57 percent. Administrators said this trend is in keeping with the national movement of more female applicants to undergraduate institutions, as well as Georgetown’s trend toward having more women applicants in the past few years.

Deacon said that the quality of the applicant pool is “virtually identical to last year” and that there were no noticeable trends in regards to similar extracurricular activities, test scores or geographic distribution. Regional distribution remained similar to previous years, with the largest percentage of applicants coming from the Mid-Atlantic and the West. New York and California were tied for the greatest number of applicants, with 1,850 each. The number of public school applicants continued to increase to 57 percent, while parochial and private school applicants remained steady at 43 percent.

Deacon also said the new SAT format, which includes an essay section, has not been a problem for the Office of Admissions, although some applicants still used scores from the old SAT.

“We do not use the writing section,” Deacon said. “College Board says [the new] Reading [section] correlates with [the] former Verbal, so no big adjustment.”

Early applications saw a slight increase this year, from 4,004 last year to 4,045. But the early acceptance rate remained steady at 22 percent. Like the regular pool, Deacon said the quality of early applicants was the same as that of last year’s group.