MOUNT VERNON — The largest group of new students since 1995 — 354 freshmen and transfer students — began classes this week at Cornell College.
Cornell’s approximately 1,000 students come from 40 states and eight foreign countries. An official enrollment count will not be available until early October during the second term of Cornell’s One-Course-At-A-Time academic calendar, which includes nine terms during the school year.
In 1995 Cornell enrolled 411 freshmen and transfer students. The size of the current entering class is partly due to a higher portion of in-state students — about 30 percent (107), up from 26 percent in recent years. Also, Cornell joins colleges across the nation experiencing larger-than-normal incoming classes, which sources partly attribute to a flood of children of baby boomers.
Among Cornell’s new students:
– 13 are high school valedictorians
– 11 percent scored 30 or higher on the ACT, with 25 the average ACT composite
– 25 percent were in the top 10 percent of their high school class
– 3.48 is the average GPA, the highest for an incoming class in the last 10 years
– 38 percent expressed a high level of interest in community service
Cornell received 1,293 applications for admission for the 2001 entering class, the most applications since 1997 (1,342).