The holiday mail is filled with presents and greeting cards, but the best present this year to 1,186 Harvard hopefuls will be a small manila envelope from Byerly Hall.

Harvard increased its early application admits this year 12.9 percent, a new record for the College.

The most pronounced increases were shown by minority and international students, reflecting more diversity in the application pool.

Also, 47 percent of the admitted students are women, compared to 45 percent last year.

The greatest number gains were seen by Hispanic students, who experienced a 36 percent jump in admissions, from 55 to 75. Black students, whose applications increased by 27 percent, showed a 35 percent increase in the number of admitted students, from 52 to 70.

Asian-American students showed a modest 3 percent gain in admissions to 243.

The makeup of the class of 2003 thus far is 6 percent Hispanic, 6 percent black, and 20 percent Asian American.

The number of international students accepted increased 121 percent from 23 to 51; the number of Canadians--whichthe Admissions Office keeps distinct frominternational students--also nearly doubled, from14 to 27.

With the increases in minority admissions theearly action pool is becoming a more accuratemirror of the College's diversity.

"I am pleased that the early-action pool seemsto reflect the diversity of the College quite wellthis year," wrote Dean of the College Harry R.Lewis '68 in an e-mail message.

The vast majority of students, 71 percent, weredeferred in the early action process. In addition,2.5 percent were denied.

Of the deferred students, about 100 to 200 willultimately be admitted, said Dean of Admissionsand Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons '67.

While they are concerned by the abbreviatedtime-span of the admissions process, Universityadministrators were quick in their praise for theadmissions office's decisions.

"I'm very pleased, of course, by theunprecedented levels of talent and diversity inour early action pool," said Dean of the FacultyJeremy R. Knowles.

Byerly Hall officials attribute the growth inapplicants this year to Harvard's announcement inSeptember that it would markedly increase itsfinancial aid offers.

"When we were on the road in September andOctober [the people we talked to] felt thefinancial aid program was attractive andreinforced the idea that Harvard had a financialaid program that was competitive with many,"Fitzsimmons said.

While substantial in numerical terms,admissions officials said the early actionincrease could have been predicted three years agowhen Princeton, Yale and Stanford went to bindingearly decision programs. That year, Harvard hadits largest jump in early applications and thenumber has grown every year since.

Fitzsimmons gives partial credit to the buzzsurrounding applying early to college.

"The more `applying early' gets talked about inthe media and among families, the more likely youare to see some increases over time," he said.

While the number of early action admissionscontinues to increase, Harvard officials maintainthat is because the pool itself continues tobecome larger and more talented, not due todecreased standards.

"I am not concerned about the increasing numberof early action admissions at Harvard, given thatthe pool of candidates was very large and strong,"Lewis wrote.

Admissions officers maintain that despite thelarge pool, they can identify students that shouldbe accepted.

"Whenever the quality [applicant] responds weare committed to respond to that quality whetherit's the first or last application accepted," saidDavid L. Evans, a senior admissions officer.

Byerly Hall officials spent 10- to 12-hour dayssix days a week for more than two months. Havingsifted through 4,588 early action applications,admissions officers were able to relax thisweekend "without feeling guilty," Evans said.

For his part Fitzsimmons maintains that hisoffice continues to treat the early action poolthe same.

"What has happened is we are admitting the samepeople year in and year out, but on a slightlydifferent timetable," Fitzsimmons said."Ultimately the system is thorough enough that thesame decision will be made either way."

Admitted students have until May 1 to notifyHarvard of their enrollment decision