U.VA. ADMISSION OFFICIALS PREDICT STRONG FALL '95 CLASS 
	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Feb. 1 -- An increase in applications
is allowing University of Virginia admission officials to be more
selective in choosing members of the 1995 entering fall class.
	The University received about 15,425 applications by its
Jan. 2 deadline for regular decision--an increase of approximately
500 over last year's total.  When applications from transfer
students are received by the March 1 deadline, admission officials
expect they will have more than 17,500 candidates to consider for
the 3,330 undergraduate first-year and transfer spaces.
	Two hundred more students applied by the Nov. 1
early-decision deadline than last year.  "Since the applicant pool
was stronger and greater in number than last year's, we were able to
offer admission to approximately 700 early-decision students,
compared to 591 last year.  The increase will force us to be more
selective in offering admission to those who applied for regular
decision," said John A. Blackburn, dean of admission.
	Fifty-three percent of the applicants for the entering class
are women.  Approximately 63 percent of the applications are from
out-of-state residents.  However, of those to be offered admission,
approximately 65 percent will reside in-state, Blackburn said.
	No data is currently available on class ranking or College
Board scores of the '95 entering class, the dean noted. 
	"The admission staff has begun to read the applications and
thus far, the indications are that the quality of students is quite
good," Blackburn said. 
	Final committee decisions will be completed by late March,
and letters offering admission to high school seniors will be mailed
April 1.
	For the '94 entering class the University received
approximately 17,000 applications for the 3,280 first-year and
transfer spaces.  More than 76 percent of the entering first-year
students last fall ranked in the top tenth of their secondary school
class.  The middle 50 percent of their combined SAT scores fell
between 1110 and 1330.
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January 31, 1995