“It’s important for us to continue to grow,” said Donald Saleh, vice president for enrollment management at SU.

As of May 1 — the deadline for accepted students to say they will come — the class was about 3,500 people. Along with the higher number of students enrolled, geographical demographics have also shifted west.

SU officials expect the incoming class size to drop to 3,300 by the time the fall semester starts, which would still be more than last year’s incoming class, Saleh said. Last year about 3,250 students were accepted.

This is a normal amount of confirmations for May, Saleh said. Students will decide not to attend SU over the summer for various reasons, including the distance from home, financial situations or deciding to take a year off before school, Saleh said.

The enrollment office is expecting to accept fewer than 60 students off the waitlist, Saleh said.

The class size is determined by the college deans, the amount of resources and space available, and the opportunities students have to practice their major hands on. The School of Architecture and College of Visual and Performing Arts have the toughest restrictions on class size because of studio space and performance opportunities available, Saleh said.

The main difference between this class and past classes is the geographic diversity, Saleh said. The incoming class has more students from the west and southeast part of the country, and it also has more international students. Five years ago there were about 90 international students, and last year there were about 200. This year there are expected to be 220, Saleh said.

The geographic make-up of the new class is consistent with national trends because the location of the largest population of 18-year-olds is shifting in the country, he said.

“The population of 18-year-olds is on the decline, especially in the northeast,” he said. “We need to have more of a market presence outside of the northeast. The second thing is the demand for education in the United States is increasing. We wanted to bring cultural diversity to the student body.”

It’s important to have a socio-economic, racially and ethnically diverse class because students learn from each other, Saleh said.

“We know that it’s important for students to graduate and to have experience outside of the classroom with learning from a rich and diverse student body,” he said.

The students are diverse in majors as well:

•About a third of the accepted students are in the College of Arts and Sciences.

•The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and Martin J.Whitman School of Management both have 10 percent of the students.

•About 12 to 13 percent are in the College of Human Ecology.

•The School of Architecture, the School of Education and the School of Information Studies each have 3 to 4 percent of the incoming class.

•Fifteen percent are in Visual and Performing Arts.

These numbers are very similar to the past five years, Saleh said.

“It’s a group of talented students,” he said. “They have achieved in high school, and they have the skills to achieve here.”

There were more students going into service-related majors, based on the applications, said Youlonda Copeland-Morgan, the associate vice president for enrollment management and director of scholarships and student aid.

“I think every class brings an increased level of energy, optimism, talent and interest in the community and making an impact on the world,” she said. “Students come to us very focused and ready to engage in making a difference.”

David Fagan, an incoming civil engineer major from Waverly, N.Y., said he is excited to leave home and come to SU.

“I’m most looking forward to marching band,” Fagan said. “I love playing my alto saxophone, and my high school doesn’t have a very good marching band.”

The music program and the marching band were the main factors in Fagan’s decision to come to SU, he said. He wanted a school that wasn’t too big or small and one that offered both engineering and music, he said.

Fagan added that Marshall Street, downtown Syracuse and the familiarity of the school also attracted him. His older sister is a current junior political science major at SU.

“I think Syracuse has what I was looking for,” he said. “It seems really nice and fun.”