Penn State undergraduate admissions received 7,866 minority applications this year compared with 7,850 last year, said Ed Escalet, director of minority admissions. "We are as stable as last year," Escalet said. "We have seen no difference."

Michigan State University and Ohio State University are two schools that have seen declines.

Terry Denbow, vice president for university relations at Michigan State, said there are 15 percent decreases in both overall and minority applications this year. However, Denbow said, the university's applications are not disproportionate to others.

Michigan State's decline in applications was also not unexpected, Denbow said. The university has recently added an essay, and there has been an increase in students applying late and researching community colleges, he said. He added Michigan State never assigned points for academics or race in the review process.

"You don't get any points for anything," Denbow said. "We look at the overall person."

At Ohio State, the year's total number of applicants is down 10 percent, said Jefferson Blackburn-Smith, senior associate director of undergraduate admissions.

The University of Michigan has seen a decline of 23 percent this year. In an e-mail message, Julie Peterson, associate vice president of media relations, said a possible reason for the decline is the late distribution of a new, "more extensive" application. This is a result of last June's U.S. Supreme Court decisions to uphold affirmative action. However, race is disqualified as a prominent factor in selecting students.

Prior to the Supreme Court case, 20 points were given to minority applicants, a policy the Supreme Court determined "too prescriptive," said Chris Lucier, University of Michigan's associate director of admissions.

Other factors including extracurricular activities were also given points, which were later weighed to determine their admission status, Lucier said.

In September, the revised University of Michigan application was sent to prospective students, with two short answer questions based on academic performance and cultural background, teacher recommendations and optional questions about the student's socioeconomic status and first language.

"It gives us so much more information on the students," Lucier said.

"I think this will be the best class ever due to the information," he added.

Lucier said the revised applications undergo two to three reviews, a change that has affected the admissions by increasing the staff by one-third.

Ohio State also implemented revised applications this year, Blackburn-Smith said. The new review process allows admissions to examine individuals' leadership abilities, which the old point-system applications had overlooked.

Escalet said Penn State admissions has seen no decrease in minority applications received because the Supreme Court's ruling did not affect university policies. Instead of considering race in the admissions process, considerations are solely based on academic records and SAT scores, he added.

"We always felt we were in compliance with the rulings," he said. "Penn State processes anyone that meets the [university requirements]."