Fall Enrollment Includes Record-Setting Freshman Class

by Lori Scott Fogleman

Baylor University has enrolled the fourth-largest, most diverse and most accomplished freshman class in the university's history, according to official 12th day enrollment statistics compiled by the Office of Institutional Research and Testing.
Baylor's freshman class of 2,785 students - up 107 students from last fall - is the university's most academically qualified freshman class in history, with an average SAT of 1190, compared with last year's average SAT of 1179. The Class of 2008 also is the most diverse, with a minority student population of 30.3 percent, up from 25.5 percent last fall. Baylor also enrolled 425 transfer students, an increase of five students over last year.
Baylor also had a record number of applications for the fall 2004 freshman class - 10,971 to be exact - yielding an acceptance rate of 72.4 percent, compared with 81.9 percent last year.
"Through the efforts of many people - including faculty, staff, alumni and friends - Baylor has enrolled an outstanding freshman class," said Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr. "I am pleased that it not only is one of our largest freshman classes ever, but it also is the strongest class academically and the most ethnically diverse in the history of the university."
This year's total university enrollment stands at 13,799, a decrease of 138 students from last fall's enrollment of 13,937.
Overall Baylor has enrolled 11,580 undergraduates; 1,297 graduate students; 424 in the School of Law; and a record 391 students in George W. Truett Theological Seminary. At the U.S. Army Academy of Health Sciences in San Antonio, where Baylor has graduate programs in healthcare administration and physical therapy, 99 students are enrolled. In addition, eight students are enrolled in the doctor of science in physical therapy (DScPT) program at West Point, another degree program operated jointly by Baylor and the U.S. Army.
Baylor returned 8,328 undergraduate students this fall, which is down 254 from last year. The retention rate for the 2003 freshman class is 82.2 percent, compared with 84 percent for the fall 2002 entering class. Last year's freshman class included a larger number of provisional students. This year's provisional student enrollment is 263 or 9.4 percent, compared with 362 or 13.5 percent last year. The Baylor Board of Regents has recommended that provisional students continue to comprise approximately 10 percent of the entering class.
Officials say factors affecting the number of returning students include smaller freshman class sizes in 2002 and 2003, an increase in the number of Baylor students graduating in four years or less, and a slight decrease in the freshman retention rate.