Stanford accepted 748 high school students for early admission to the Class of 2018, with an admission rate of 10.8 percent, according to the Office of Undergraduate Admission, who announced these results on Friday afternoon. These students were selected from 6,948 early admission candidates, the largest pool in Stanford’s history.

To compare, the early admission rate for the Class of 2017 was 11.9 percent. Out of a pool of 6,103 applicants, 725 were accepted. The number of applications rose from 6,103 to 6,948 this year, representing a 13.9 percent increase.

“In the past six months our admission staff has travelled around the world and has communicated with tens of thousands of prospective students eager to join our community,” said Colleen Lim, associate dean and director of admission, in an email to The Daily. “Countless times we heard ‘Stanford is my dream school!’    It is clear to us that Stanford’s commitment to the undergraduate experience continues to resonate with so many exceptional candidates.”

Richard Shaw, dean of undergraduate admission and financial aid, stated that the 748 students who received acceptance letters represent 48 states and 36 countries. According to Shaw, more than 76 percent of these students have a high school grade point average of 4.0 or above.

“We have admitted an exceptional group of students from a tremendously talented pool of applicants,” said Shaw to the Stanford News Service.

This year, 593 students were deferred in restricted early action.

According to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, Stanford will reserve the majority of spaces in its freshmen class for students who apply for admission under its regular decision program. More than 30,000 students are expected to apply.