Harvard has admitted more Latino students to next year’s freshman class than ever before in school history. Of the current high school seniors who received thick envelopes from Harvard, a record 9.8 percent are Latino, up from 8.2 percent last year.

The announcement from Harvard officials today indicates that the composition of the College’s classes is following nationwide demographic trends, but that Harvard still lags behind the rest of the country in the growth of its Latino population. Individuals of Hispanic origin compose 14.0 percent of the U.S. population, according to Census Bureau data from 2004, the most recent year for which figures are available.

For the second time in Harvard’s history, more women than men were admitted to the freshman class. According to Harvard officials, a record 51.8 percent of admitted students are female—up from 49.5 percent last year, and 50.1 percent two years ago.

The percentage of African-Americans in the admitted freshman class remained constant at 10.5 percent. Meanwhile, the percentage of Asian-Americans rose to 17.7 percent, still a full percentage point below the Class of 1998’s mark.