Average SATs for Class of 2009 at record level

Admissions Director Lou Hirsh describes one applicant who sent in a clay figure with a message: "I made you a Blue Hen. Now, I hope that you’ll make me one."

7:25 p.m., May 25, 2005--The average SAT scores and the number of students with grade point averages (GPAs) of 4.00 or higher coming to the University of Delaware as freshmen this fall have reached new levels, Lou Hirsh, director of admissions, told the Board of Trustees at its spring meeting on Wednesday, May 25, in the Trabant University Center.

“This is the first year when the average entering freshman at UD has SATs above 1200,” Hirsh said. “This also is the first year when over 500 of our entering freshmen have high school reported GPAs of 4.00 or above.”

Hirsh also said that the number of freshmen with SATs over 1400 broke the 200 mark for the first time, with 261 members of the Class of 2009 arriving at UD with scores of 1400 or above.

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Two members of the Class of 2009 have perfect SAT scores, while the average Honors Program enrollees are in the top 5 percent of their high school class, with 43 percent graduating with 4.00 GPAs, Hirsh said.

Each March, Hirsh said, UD invites its top applicants, a group whose SATs average close to 1500, to participate in the Distinguished Scholars Competition.

“This year, 107 applicants accepted our invitation to compete,” Hirsh said. “Of this group, 49 have chosen to join us this fall, including one student each from Alaska and Hawaii.”

Hirsh said that UD expects to welcome an entering class of 3,450 freshmen and some 525 transfer students to its Newark campus this fall.

Approximately one-third (1,125) of the freshmen and 45 percent of the transfer students arriving at UD this fall are Delaware residents. Besides residents of the First State, the fall 2005 new arrivals include students from 35 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and nine foreign countries.

The average Delawarean joining UD this fall will bring a GPA of 3.43 on a 4-point scale, with an average SAT of 1155. Two-thirds of Delaware applicants were admitted to UD’s Newark campus, while one-fourth will participate in the Associate in Arts Program, Hirsh said.

Approximately 300 First State residents have been offered and accepted enrollment in the Associate in Arts Program, now in its second year, Hirsh said.

“There is, of course, a huge advantage to being a Delawarean if you are applying for admission to the University of Delaware,” Hirsh said. “The standard for admission is simple. If your academic record predicts success we admit you. Delawareans do not compete against each other for admission.”

Out-of-state students

Competition is keen, however, among the 19,500-plus out-of-state applicants seeking one of the 2,350 seats left after qualified Delawareans have been admitted, Hirsh said.

“The average out-of-state enrolling freshman has a high school GPA of 3.62 on a 4-point average, and SATs of 1231,” Hirsh said. “Since the vast majority of such students who apply are qualified, the competition is fierce, and with each passing year, is becoming fiercer.”

As an example of this increased competition, Hirsh recalled an impassioned plea from an out-of-state applicant who truly wanted to be a Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hen.

“After the regular letters of acceptance are mailed, we go through a four- or five-week period where anxious applicants whose names are on the wait list flood the Office of Admissions with calls and e-mails asking us to take them off our wait list,” Hirsh said. “One sent us a Blue Hen she had made accompanied by a message which read, ‘I made you a Blue Hen. I hope you will make me one.’”

The extra effort worked, and the applicant will be among those arriving at UD this fall, Hirsh said.

Students of color

Another significant first in UD undergraduate admissions history is that the Class of 2009 will include nearly 550 students of color. Students of color arriving on the Newark campus this fall will include African Americans, Hispanic American, Native American and Pacific Islander American individuals, Hirsh said.

“More than 15 percent of our fall 2005 class are students of color,” Hirsh said. “The largest increase is in the number of Latino students.”

Beyond academic achievement

While the average high school GPA for the Class of 2009 is a record 3.56 on a 4-point scale, and the average SATs are 16 points ahead of last year’s record-setting class, Hirsh said that there are other measures of excellence for the freshmen arriving at UD this fall, including:

More than half participated in volunteer or community service activities;

More than half are involved in sports;

Nearly one-fifth of the class are musicians; and

Nearly one-fifth are participants in student government, including some student body presidents.

“As you walk across The Green this fall, you are also likely to encounter freshmen who are active in theatre or write for the newspaper or who are starting new student clubs and organizations, because that is exactly what they did when they were in high school,” Hirsh said. “On that same walk you also will see an entering class that is more diverse than it has ever been in our history. That, too, is one of the most important marks of excellence.”

Admissions facts

Hirsh said the UD Admissions staff:

Read more than 24,000 applications for freshman and transfer students “with great diligence and with compassion”;
Hosted approximately 50,000 campus visitors this past year;
Contacted more than 20,000 families at hundreds of college fairs, college nights, school visits and regional receptions; and
Hosted hundreds of high school guidance counselors on campus and at gatherings throughout the mid-Atlantic region.

Article by Jerry Rhodes
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson

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