MOUNT VERNON — Cornell College enrolled 410 new students for classes this fall, one of the three largest groups of incoming students in the college’s 150-year history.
The new students include 371 freshmen — the second-largest group of first-year students in 10 years — 34 transfer students and five international or foreign exchange students. Cornell’s estimated total enrollment is 1,114, a 10 percent increase over last year. The official enrollment will be calculated in October, after the college completes one full term on the nine-term One-Course-At-At-Time academic calendar.
The freshman class represents Cornell’s strongest academically: average grade point average of 3.53; an ACT score range of 23-29 for the middle 50 percent of the class; 28 percent in the top 10 percent of their class, 56 percent in the top 25 percent of their class; 25 valedictorians, nine salutatorians; 50 students who held a 4.0 or better grade point average.
“We are thrilled with the quality and quantity of new students, both first-year students and transfers, who chose to enroll at Cornell this fall,” said Jonathan Stroud, vice president for enrollment and dean of admission. “We are delighted in this group’s geographic and ethnic diversity. It is wonderful to already hear stories about the energy and talents that these students have brought to our campus.”
Twenty-five percent of Cornell’s freshmen are from Iowa. Illinois, Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Kansas are the top five home states of Cornell’s non-Iowa students. The freshmen come from 32 states and eight foreign countries.
Cornell enrolled 419 new students in fall 1988, when the freshman class was the largest in history (395), and 410 new students in fall 1995, when the freshman class was 384. Cornell received 1,700 applications for fall 2003 admission, from all 50 states and over 40 foreign countries.
Founded in 1853, Cornell is an independent, liberal arts college included in Loren Pope’s “Colleges That Change Lives,” ranked among the “Best 331 Colleges” in the Princeton Review and cited for its “innovative, outside-the-box curriculum” in the 2004 edition of Kaplan’s “Unofficial, Unbiased Guide to the 328 Most Interesting Colleges.” Cornell is ranked as one of the nation’s top liberal arts colleges in U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of colleges.