Baylor Welcomes Second-Largest and Most Diverse Freshman Class To Campus

September 2, 2009

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Academic Index, Indicator of High Achievement, on the Rise for Class of 2013; Business, Engineering Programs Get High Marks from U.S. News

For the second consecutive year, Baylor University welcomed to campus its second-largest and most diverse freshman class in university history, as more than 3,000 students moved into university residence halls prior to the start of the fall semester.

Although enrollment isn't official until the 12th class day, nearly 3,100 freshmen are attending classes at Baylor, only the third time ever that freshman enrollment has topped 3,000. The largest freshman class came in 2005, when a record 3,168 first-year students enrolled at Baylor. Last year's freshman enrollment was 3,062 students, which until this fall was the second-largest freshman class in Baylor history.

The standout statistic from this year's freshman class is the continued increase in diversity. Minority enrollment among Baylor's first-year students stands at a record 35 percent, up from last fall's record of 31 percent.

Over the last four years, Baylor's minority enrollment among freshmen has increased 62 percent, while enrollment among Hispanic freshmen has increased 82 percent, according to statistics from Baylor's Office of Institutional Research and Testing.

Demand for a Baylor education also continues to be strong, as the university received a record 31,000 applications for this year's freshman class. More high-achieving students were drawn to Baylor, with officials reporting an increase in the freshman class academic index, which measures the combination of a student's high school class rank with SAT and/or ACT scores. Although the average SAT score of Baylor freshmen dipped slightly, officials noted a growing trend that more entering students are taking only the ACT. Baylor accepts both the ACT and SAT in the admissions process.

Overall, Baylor expects overall enrollment to top 14,000 for the fourth straight fall. Baylor's record fall enrollment was 14,541 in 2008, and officials believe that this fall's enrollment will be near that same level. Baylor's previous record enrolled came in 2001, when 14,221 students attended classes at Baylor.

Volunteers Ease Freshman Move-In

A record number of more than 3,000 volunteers stepped up during Move-In Days on Aug. 19-20 to help Baylor freshmen move their belongings into their residence halls. Volunteers included Baylor Interim President David E. Garland and new Vice President for Student Life Kevin Jackson, as well as hundreds of students, faculty, staff and community members, who braved the hot August sun to provide a helpful and welcoming spirit to new Baylor students and their families.

On Aug. 19, volunteers helped freshmen taking part in ELGs (Engaged Learning Groups) and LLCs (Living-Learning Communities) move in to Brooks College, Kokernot, Memorial, Alexander, Allen, Dawson and North Village. This fall, Baylor opened its ninth LLC, a nationally successful program that allows students to connect their residential experience with their academic major or a related interest.

The newest LLC, the Entrepreneurship Living-Learning Center (ENT-LLC) in North Village, brings together about 100 entrepreneurially minded students from all fields of study. The ENT-LLC is a partnership between the department of management and entrepreneurship at Baylor's Hankamer School of Business and Campus Living and Learning.

On Aug. 20, the rest of Baylor's freshman class, assisted by volunteers, moved into Collins, Penland, Martin, North Russell and South Russell residence halls. First-year students then took part in Welcome Week activities before classes began on Aug. 24.

A Move-In Day photo gallery by Baylor Photography can be found here.

Baylor Photography also created this time-lapse video as roommates moved into Collins Residence Hall.

U.S. News rankings

The latest U.S.News & World Report rankings, released on Aug. 20, placed Baylor at No. 80 among the nation's top national doctoral-granting universities. The magazine evaluated more than 1,400 accredited four-year schools.

Among Big 12 schools cited in U.S. News as "Best National Universities," Baylor is the fourth highest-ranked university, behind only the University of Texas-Austin at No. 47, Texas A&M at No. 61 and the University of Colorado at No. 77.

Other Big 12 schools ranked by U.S. News are Iowa State University at No. 88, University of Kansas and University of Nebraska-Lincoln at No. 96, University of Missouri-Columbia and University of Oklahoma at No. 102, and Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech in the third tier.

Baylor is the fifth highest-rated university in Texas, behind Rice at No. 17, UT-Austin, Texas A&M and SMU at No. 68. TCU, at No. 110, is the only other Texas school ranked in the magazine's top 130.

U.S. News also gave high marks to Baylor's business and engineering undergraduate programs.

Baylor Business, Engineering Move Up

Baylor's Hankamer School of Business moved up from No. 65 to No. 57 in this year's top undergraduate business program rankings. Baylor's entrepreneurship program - which was one of the first of its kind in the country - moved up to 13th among the nation's best entrepreneurship programs.

Baylor's engineering program continues to be highly ranked, moving up nine places to No. 12 among universities with the "Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs." The category is for schools whose highest engineering degree offered is a bachelor's or master's degree.

U.S. News relies on several factors for its university survey, including what it identifies as "indicators of academic quality" gathered from each school; assessment by administrators at peer institutions; student retention; faculty resources; student selectivity; financial resources; alumni giving; class size; student/faculty ratio; and graduation rate performance.

Media contact: Lori Fogleman, director of media communications, (254) 710-6275