Admissions statistics reveal steady trends

Percent of admitted students remains mostly unchanged despite spikes in Engineering, Nursing Schools’ applicants

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Letters were mailed and decisions were posted last Friday - the class of 2014 has been admitted to the University. This year's admissions statistics show a continuing trend of selectivity, high in-state ratio and impressive high school academic achievement.

Overall, the composition of the class of 2014 is comparable to years past, but the Nursing and Engineering Schools both saw dramatic rises in the number of applicants, which may have been caused by the nation's poor economic state, Dean of Admissions Greg Roberts said.

"This is likely the result of intensive recruiting efforts and greater national interests in these careers due to the economic downturn the last several years," Roberts said.

Roberts expressed enthusiasm about the applicant pool the University received.

"It's been an extraordinary year as we have seen the largest and perhaps deepest applicant pool in our history," he stated in an e-mail.

Peabody Hall's blog posted preliminary admission statistics last Friday, which were obtained from the Office of Institutional Assessment. According to these statistics, the University received 22,516 total applications this year, an increase from last year's 21,839 applications. The number of in-state applications was 7,964, nearly half of the 14,652 out-of-state applications received.

The total amount of offers given, according to the University's Admissions Office, was 6,907 - almost 600 more than the 6,331 offers given last year. Regardless, the Office of Undergraduate Admission maintains the same goal of enrolling 3,240 first-year students come this fall.

The University traditionally has offered in-state applicants a higher admission percentage than out-of-state applicants. This rings true for the Class of 2014. The admission percentage for in-state applicants was 42.4 percent this year, while 24 percent of out-of-state applicants were admitted, according to Peabody Hall's official blog. Meanwhile, 24 percent of out-of-state students were accepted into the University. Similarly, 42.7 percent of in-state students and 22 percent of out-of-state students were admitted to the class of 2013 last year.

Of the students that received offers this year, the middle 50 percent scored between a 1300 and a 1480 on the reading and math portions of the SAT. The majority of these students - 93.8 percent - also were in the top 10 percent of their high school classes.