Virginia Tech received a record number of freshman applicants this year.

And while school administrators know student SAT scores, GPAs and extracurricular activities, they're not so sure about the ethnic background of nearly a quarter of the potential freshman class.

Figures announced Monday show 18,980 students applied.

Officials said the 7.5 percent jump from last year could be attributed to location, academics, athletics or a number of other factors.

While the number of applicants has fluctuated slightly from year to year since the old school record of 18,838 in 2001, the number of students choosing to mark "other" for ethnicity has consistently increased.

Only about 800 students marked "other" that year instead of white, black, Native American/Alaskan native, Asian American/Pacific Islander or Hispanic.

That number has increased nearly fivefold -- to about 4,000 -- and is now higher than any other demographic except "white."

While she couldn't cite any Tech-specific study, director of undergraduate admissions Norrine Bailey Spencer said two types of students check the "other" box or no box at all: those who don't think they fit into any of the provided categories, and white students who are afraid their ethnicity will hurt their chances of being accepted.

Lauren O'Neil, chairwoman of the school's College Republicans, said she marked white in her application.

But the junior understands why some white students would mark "other."

"It's not fair to accept students on any basis other than merit," she said. "The college campus is a place for diversity of ideas, not diversity of ethnicity."

President Charles Steger announced a goal to increase black enrollment at his inaugural address in 2000.

After a couple of years of successfully doing that, those figures have stagnated. The issue of what role ethnicity should play in admissions came to the forefront in March 2003 when the school's governing board voted to end affirmative action at Tech.

It quickly reversed its decision, and ethnic background is considered in the admissions process.

Tech's student body is 71.4 percent white; the next highest total listed by the school is "unknown" at 7.5 percent.

A quick look at this year's applicant figures shows that white students were the only group that experienced a substantial decrease from last year.

The options given for applicants are similar to the classifications the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia uses.

While there's no box listed for students of Middle Eastern origin, that shouldn't pose a problem, according to Adam Daken, a senior from Egypt.

He considers himself white, as do most people from the Middle East.

The University of Virginia will announce its applicant figures later this week.

But spokesman Jeff Hanna said the number of applicants who did not select an ethnicity has increased from 2.4 percent five years ago to 8.2 percent this year.

UVa does not offer an "other" box.

Radford University changed from rolling admissions to a deadline this year so comparisons are difficult.

But of the 5,633 applications received thus far, only 89 applicants have categorized themselves as "other."

Although the number of applicants has increased, Tech's projected freshman class size will remain the same next year.

In recent years, Tech has offered enrollment to 68 percent to 70 percent of applicants, Spencer said. About 40 percent of those offered accept.

"We will be a bit more competitive," she said.