Virginia Tech officials say the school has received deposits from 5,601 freshmen for fall 2008, up from 5,215 deposits received last year.

The 2008 freshman class comes from the largest-ever application pool of 20,756. It's the third straight record-setting year of applications for freshman admission.

Officials say freshmen accepting the offer of admission earned an average high school grade point average of 3.80. That's up from 3.77 last year.

The incoming freshman class is 45.2 percent female and 54.8 percent ale.

Tech spokesman Larry Hincker believes at least some applicants were enticed by the school spirit on display since the April 2007 shootings that left dead 32 students and faculty. The gunman killed himself.