Who are the UW applicants?

Nearly 250 Michaels have put down deposits to be freshmen this fall at the UW, as have nearly 180 Sarahs — making them the most common names in the class.

It's one of the fun facts UW admission officers have collected among the piles of data they sift through.

The highest number of applications this year came from Newport High School in Bellevue — followed by Inglemoor, Mercer Island, Roosevelt, Garfield and Bellevue high schools. The largest number from an out-of-state school was from Sen. Barack Obama's alma mater, Punahou School, of Hawaii.

More than 28 percent of students who put down deposits have parents who never earned degrees. About 20 percent are children of Husky alums.

Other data reflect shifting demographic trends. Caucasians will make up about 50 percent of the incoming UW class and soon may become a minority for the first time. Asian Americans account for 27 percent; international students, 6 percent; Hispanics, 6 percent; African Americans, 3 percent; Native Americans, 1 percent; and Pacific Islanders, 1 percent. About 6 percent did not report an ethnicity. Numbers are subject to change by the fall.

Eastern Washington University, meanwhile, is at the front end of a statewide demographic shift in which Hispanic students account for an increasing percentage of high-school graduates. Hispanic students are expected to make up more than 11 percent of Eastern's freshman class this fall, up from less than 8 percent two years ago.

Eastern, in Cheney, near Spokane, is also one of the few universities in the state not breaking records for applications and class size. That's because universities in Idaho and Montana have been heavily recruiting in Eastern Washington, according to Shannon Carr, Eastern Washington admissions director. An undergraduate exchange program means Washington students still can get a good deal on tuition at certain universities in those states.

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com