Admission Applications, Enrollment Set Records

EVANSTON, Ill. --- This fall's freshman class at Northwestern University set records for the number of students who applied and enrolled.

A total of 25,013 high school students applied for admission, breaking the record of 21,930 set last year. It was the fifth straight year that applications set a new record.

The 2008-09 freshman class of 2,078 also set a record for enrollment, surpassing the 2,062 first-year students in the 2006-07 academic year, said Michael Mills, associate provost for university enrollment. An additional 128 transfer students enrolled this fall.

"The class boasts strong academic achievements and, like previous classes, consists of students from diverse geographic and ethnic backgrounds," Mills said.

The middle 50 percent of the class' combined SAT score is 1360 to 1530. The middle 50 percent of the ACT scores is 30 to 33.

And 85 percent of the freshmen ranked in the top 10 percent of their class, the same level as last year, according to Mills.

Illinois residents represent 20.3 percent of enrolled students, the largest group from areas around the country; another 17 percent come from other Midwest states. Other sections of the country represented in the freshman class are Middle States, 19.9 percent; West, 14.4 percent;
South, 10.3 percent; Southwest, 5.8 percent; and New England, 5.5 percent. The class includes 6.7 percent of students from overseas.

Minorities make up almost one-third of the freshman class. The percentage of Asian-American students is 20.6 percent. Latino students make up 6.5 percent while African-American enrollment is 4.2 percent. Fifty-six percent of the class is Caucasian.

The freshman class is composed of 51.6 percent women (1,072) and 48.4 percent men (1,006).

A total of 1,154 students are enrolled in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern's largest undergraduate school. The enrollment in other schools is McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, 358; School of Communication, 244; Medill School, 179; School of Music, 104; and School of Education and Social Policy, 39.