Controversy over University President Lawrence H. Summers’ January remarks on women and science did not appear to significantly affect students’ choices in this year’s admissions.

Female admits checked ‘yes’ on Harvard’s reply card more often than males; 79.3 percent of accepted women will arrive in Cambridge in the fall, compared to 77.8 percent of men. Fitzsimmons said the yield of female students expressing interest in the sciences was up slightly from last year.

“We actually weren’t surprised,” Fitzsimmons said, adding that there were few concerns about the issue at information sessions and last month’s prefrosh weekend.

Overall, the number of students accepting Harvard’s offer of admission rose slightly this year, inching up a percentage point to 78.5 percent. Byerly accepted an all-time low 9.1 percent from a record applicant pool of 22,796. Ethnic and geographic demographics remained consistent with previous years. The Class of 2009 will include slightly more African-American and Native American students and slightly fewer Asian-Americans and Latinos.

The final figures may change in coming weeks depending on waitlist decisions and deferrals. Fitzsimmons said Harvard expects to admit 15 to 20 students off its waitlist this year, nudging the overall yield toward eighty percent.

Harvard routinely enjoys the highest yield of any comparable university. In 2004, Yale netted 69 percent of its admits, 68 percent of admitted Princetonians flocked to New Jersey, and Stanford scored 66 percent of its accepted students.

Inquiries to Yale and Princeton’s admissions offices about this year’s yields were not returned yesterday. A Stanford spokesman said the school does not release yield numbers until the fall.

—Staff writer Michael M. Grynbaum can be reached at grynbaum@fas.harvard.edu.