The number of black applicants to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences rose about 10 per cent this year, from 91 to about 100 applicants, reversing last year's 32-per-cent decline, Peter S. McKinney, administrative dean of the GSAS, said Friday.

McKinney said he has not yet determined whether the rise is a result of the GSAS's new minority recruiting plan, under which Harvard, Yale and Princeton graduate schools share the names of minority applicants.

The number of applicants from other minority groups is "about the same" or a little higher than last year, he said.

Constant Total

The total number of applicants to the GSAS is about this same as last year's 4900, McKinney said, with a possible decline in the number of humanities applicants and an increase in the number of students applying to social and natural science fields.

Despite the drop in humanities applicants, 361 students have applied to the English Department, for a first-year class of about 20. Other departments receiving large numbers of applicants include Economics, with 400 applicants for 30 places, and History, with 285 applicants, roughly 20 of whom will attend next year.

The East Asian Studies programs suffered the largest decline in applicants, dropping from 150 last year to about 100 this year. McKinney said he "just can't explain such a decline, unless there was a mistake in filing."

Officials of the Yale and Princeton graduate schools, both of which suffered declines in black applicant numbers last year, could not be reached yesterday for information on their application results.