The Dean of Admissions discusses why Elmhurst College's largest freshman class in history also has higher test scores and will likely be "more engaged" in the life of the campus.
Posted on: August 29, 2007
August 22 marked the beginning of college life for hundreds of Elmhurst College freshmen. Student leaders and college staff ushered teenagers and their parents through move-in day much the way their counterparts did at campuses across the country. Dorm room fridges and cheap tree lamps lined the College’s walkways, while new students shared a picnic lunch and the convocation exercises with their parents and new roommates.
The day marked many milestones—for students and their families, to be sure—but it also was a landmark day for the College in many ways.
At 507 students, the class of 2011 is the largest freshman class in the College’s history. The previous record, set last year, was 482 students.
Gary Rold, the College’s Dean of Admission, points out that changes in Elmhurst College’s freshman class are not simply reflected by a bigger number. Though there’s been a 33 % increase in freshman class size since 2003, Rold says, these days the matriculating Elmhurst student generally has better test scores and is more interested in a traditional, four-year campus experience.
“We know that we’re not the only college or university that has increased applications. We know there’s more activity everywhere,” Rold explains, “But our freshman class is larger and has improved more. Our ACT scores are the highest they have ever been; they’ve gone up 1.5 points in the last four years. Our average GPA has gone up a tenth of a point since last year.”
The College is also retaining more of its freshmen, according to Rold, with last year’s rate of retention for the freshman class also the highest in the college’s history, at 85%.
Rold claims the admission department and other offices have been trying to attract students interested in staying at the college, but he also believes the type of students Elmhurst College has attracted over the past few years have initiated a change in atmosphere that has begun to drift through the campus.
“They’re not just smarter; they’re more engaged and more involved, and it makes for a more interesting place,” he says. Their engagement enlivens attitude of everyone on campus, Rold argues, from professors to administrators and staff, and—in a circular way—attracts the kind of student who seeks a thriving campus life.
The combination of more residential college students and a more “traditional,” lively student life has put a temporary strain on the College’s housing situation. This year, Elmhurst College is housing 140 students in rooms at the Elmhurst Terrace apartments, roughly one mile from campus. The students are transported to the College by shuttle bus. A 170-bed residence hall is currently under construction on the west end of campus, as well, scheduled to open next fall.
“It will be filled the moment it opens,” Rold says, “Part of that is that the students who are already here want to stay. The demand is really from students who are already here.”
The College’s total enrollment for the 2007-2008 school year stands at 3,184. In addition to the 507 new freshmen, there are 257 new full-time transfer students, 86 new part-time and adult program undergraduates, and 134 new graduate program students. The College enrolls 2,472 full-time students in its traditional program, 416 part-time and accelerated undergraduate program students, and 296 graduate program students.
Asked about the record-setting freshman class and other new students, the College’s executive vice president Jim Kulich commented, “These numbers reflect ongoing, planned growth at the College and, overall, are right on the target we’ve set for this year.
It’s worth setting the numbers from this, College President Bryant Cureton’s final year at the College, alongside the data from 1994, Cureton’s first year at Elmhurst. That year, the number of incoming transfer students was actually larger than the freshman class, which numbered 222. This year there are 257 transfer students, but there are more than double as many freshmen, and they come from a larger area and see Elmhurst College as a community in which they can grow.
This doesn’t mean that the commuter, part-time, or adult student is unwelcome— slightly less than half of Elmhurst College’s students live on campus—but gains have come from the students toward the top of their class, from students from out of the region, from students looking to grow academically and personally, as well as professionally.
“You have to have a broad swath of focus,” Rold says, “No customer service relation is aided by taking service away from one group and giving it to another.” At Elmhurst College, where the focus has been on blending liberal arts with professional preparation, the lens may have to widen slightly over the next few years to include the personal and social growth that comes with a lively, involved campus-- even if the focus remains on the academic and professional growth of the College's students.
For more information, call (630) 617-6148.
Elmhurst
College • 190 Prospect Avenue • Elmhurst, Illinois 60126-3296
• main number (630) 617-3500
Undergraduate Admission • (630) 617-3400 • (800) 697-1871 •
admit@elmhurst.edu
Graduate & Adult Admission • (630) 617-3300 • (800) 581-4723
• sal@elmhurst.edu
See a problem on the website? Let us know.
