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| Hiatt: Incoming class
strongest numbers yet |
Sam Calhoun
Academic Affairs Beat
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 Building
on the constant increase of academically stronger students each
year, the fall 2003 freshman applicant pool is the largest, most
competitive and most diverse in Appalachian State University’s
history, according to an applicant pool data sheet.
As of Thursday, around 10,000 students applied for admittance into
the 2003 freshman class. Goals are set by Appalachian every year
for the number of freshman and transfer students the university
would like to admit, acting Associate Vice Chancellor for Enrollment
Services Cindy A. Wallace said Thursday.
For 2003, the freshman admittance goal is 2,475 and the transfer
goal is 700, according to an applicant pool data sheet.
The freshman goal has gone up and the transfer goal has gone down,
Wallace said.
“There has been a big push from the Office of the [UNC system]
President to take more students across the 16-member institutions
this year,” Wallace said. “We’ve accepted around
5,400 students to get a yield of around 42 percent, because students
may apply at several schools, to then get around 2,475 [coming to
Appalachian].”
And they’re smart, too.
“We’ve had a stronger applicant pool every year,”
Director of Admissions Paul N. Hiatt Jr. said Thursday. “We’ve
seen more students taking AP [advanced placement] and IB [international
baccalaureate] courses, and we see more students in the upper 20
percent of their class and students with more community involvement.”
Since Appalachian is still only working with an applicant pool,
the numbers will change. Currently, the average GPA of the freshman
applicant pool is 3.73 and the SAT is 1142, Wallace said.
According to the applicant pool data sheet, there is a 50-point
increase in average SAT scores since 1998, a 25 percent increase
in applications since 1998 and a 24 percent increase in underrepresented
populations and minorities over last year’s applicant pool.
Diversity has been a big issue on campus as well as for admissions.
The Admissions Office has established a Diversity Council to assist
in the admissions process, Hiatt said.
“We have long felt that the university should be more ethnically
and culturally diverse, so we’ve really worked hard to try
and make that happen,” Hiatt said.
Numbers are not yet in for this year, but the 2002 freshman class
had around 9 percent of underrepresented populations compared to
the overall Appalachian State student body number of 6 percent,
Wallace said.
The numbers that shape the new freshman and transfer classes will
develop more so after May 1, when all accepted students in North
Carolina must send in a $200 deposit to secure their space in the
incoming class, Wallace said.
Seventy-seven percent of applicants applied online this year so
far, Wallace said.
This increase in almost every category has many factors.
“It has something to do with [all the accolades Appalachian
has received], as well as the momentum the university has achieved
over the past several years. In other words, we have attracted stronger
students every year and that builds on itself,” Hiatt said.
“We’ve got an awesome student body and we’ve got
a great faculty and we’ve done the right thing … we’ve
really invested money where it matters,” Wallace said. |
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