Meet the Class of 2007

4:00 p.m., Sep. 2, 2003 --On Aug. 31, the campus and the city of Newark were transformed into a bustling center of activity and action as 3,491 freshmen and 592 transfer students arrived for the fall semester. In addition, 416 students have enrolled in UD’s Parallel Program in Wilmington, Dover and Georgetown.

The class comes from the largest and strongest pool of applicants in recent times, according to Louis Hirsh, director of admissions. “We had approximately 19,000 applicants from out of state and 3,000 from Delaware and were able to offer admission to fewer than 38 percent of the out-of-state students who applied,” he said.

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“There was also an increase in the number of applications from students of color,” Hirsh said. “This year, there are 546 students of color or 15.6 percent of the freshman class—the largest percentage ever.”

The outstanding class includes 37 valedictorians, 34 salutatorians and 440 students with 4.0 grade point averages. SAT scores for the middle 50 percent of all admitted freshmen range from 1150 to 1300.

The Honors Program has an enrollment of 489 freshmen, with SAT scores for the middle 50 percent ranging from 1310 to 1410.

Students from Delaware number 1,352, followed by New Jersey (618), Pennsylvania (438), New York (431) and Maryland (249). Fifty-four students are from 10 countries overseas.

From Delaware, most freshmen are graduates of the Charter School of Wilmington (118), followed by St. Marks (109), Newark (74), William Penn (68), Salesianum (66), Middletown (53), Cape Henlopen (52), Concord (48), Brandywine (46) and Alexis I. du Pont (45) high schools.

The class includes 457 legacies, or children of alumni, including 137 children of Double Dels (both parents are UD alumni).

The majority of freshmen (2,201) are enrolled in the College of Arts and Science, followed by the Lerner College of Business and Economics (494), the College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy (471), the College of Engineering (421), the College of Health and Nursing Sciences (335) and the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (161).

Most students in arts and science have not declared a major. Other majors in the top 10 include business administration, biological sciences, elementary teacher education, psychology, communication, mechanical engineering, nursing, chemical engineering and English.

The average age of the students is 18 years, with the oldest student 38 and the youngest 16.

The class includes 19 sets of twins.

Most popular names in the freshman class are Jennifer (64) and Lauren (55) and Michael (79) and Christopher (58).

Members of the incoming class have participated in a variety of extracurricular activities, with 57 percent involved in one or more sports, 52 percent in volunteer or community service, 40 percent in social clubs, 29 percent in academic clubs, 18 percent in student government, 18 percent in music, 16 percent in newspaper/yearbook and 12 percent in theatre.

Statistics about incoming students are subject to slight changes as the academic year gets under way. Official enrollment figures will be available in October.

Article by Sue Moncure

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