freshman class

Tag: freshman class

Welcome Class of 2021

Student and parents unloading their car for new student move-in dayThe welcome mats will be out in abundance Tuesday, Sept. 5 when 385 new Lawrence University students, including 17 from the Fox Cities, arrive for that traditional rite of passage known as Freshmen Move in Day and the start of new student orientation activities. Classes for Lawrence’s 169th academic year begin Monday, Sept. 11.

Freshmen members of the Class of 2021 were drawn from a school-record number of more than 3,600 applicants, building on a five-year upward trend. Since 2012, first-year applications to Lawrence have increased 39 percent.

While Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota remain first, second and third, respectively, in sending the most students to Lawrence, more than half of this year’s total of new students hail from outside those traditional big three. California and New York round out the top five Lawrence student-producing states. Some of the incoming students from Texas are still coping with the effects of Hurricane Harvey, which has brought out the best in their fellow Lawrentians.

“We’ve had parents of current students from unaffected parts of Texas reach out to those families of first-year students in the hurricane areas,” said Ken Anselment, dean of admissions and financial aid. “They’re offering help to any fellow Lawrentians who may need it. That’s so Lawrence-like.”

Mother helping son move into the dormThirty percent of the new students identify as domestic students of color: African-American, Native American, Hispanic, Asian-American or multi-ethnic.

“This is one of the most ethnically diverse classes we have seen in decades,” said Anselment. “This continues a trend we’ve seen over the past five years during which roughly a quarter of our new students have identified as domestic students of color.”

China, with 12 incoming freshmen, leads Lawrence’s traditionally strong international student make-up, with six students matriculating from Vietnam. Thirty-four students representing 19 countries, including Bangladesh, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Nepal and the United Arab Emirates are among this year’s first-year students.

“As the population of college-bound students in the United States has been declining, especially so in the Midwest, we have been increasing our national and international recruitment focus,” said Anselment.

student moving into the dormAcademically, first-year students averaged 29 on the ACT, with nearly 40 percent of them graduating in the top 10 percent of their high school class.

“This class is noteworthy for its strong academics, its geographic and cultural diversity and its athletic and musical talent,” said Anselment. “We have some exceptional student-athletes and exceptional musicians. It’s one of the stronger years we’ve seen.”

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Lawrence Sets Student Application Record

In an application year that was beset with unusual phenomena, including a major glitch with the 2014 online Common Application and a shrinking number of college-bound students nationwide, Lawrence University still set an all-time high in freshman applications with 2,734 students — and counting — applying for admission for fall 2014 in advance of the May 1 National Candidates Reply Date.

Ken-Anselment_newsblog
Ken Anselment

“We seemed to buck a trend this year in the upper Midwest,” said Ken Anselment, dean of admissions and financial aid. “In our primary areas of Wisconsin and Illinois, which has been and will continue to see shrinking numbers of 17- and 18-year-olds, we have seen an increase of about two percent in our applications.”

West, East Coasts Fuel Increase

This year’s application mark tops the college’s previous high of 2,711 set last year and represents a nearly nine percent increase from five years ago. Despite the record-setting number, Anselment said Lawrence is still accepting applications for the 2014-15 academic year “from those students who are a good fit for Lawrence.”

Contributing even more to Lawrence’s increase in applications is growth far beyond the Upper Midwest, most notably California, which grew 20 percent this year, as well as New York, up seven percent from last year. Both states are in Lawrence’s top five home states for applications.

Lawrence also set a record for international applications, 415 (and counting), with China leading the way with more than 130 applications, followed by Vietnam, Ghana, Jamaica, Pakistan and Canada.

“Quality and diversity appear to be on the rise with this class, which made our job of selecting students that much tougher,” said Anselment, whose admission staff has shifted its energy and attention from admitting this fall’s class to enrolling them.

Over the past month, hundreds of students have visited the campus to take an up-close look at Lawrence before making their final decisions by the May 1 deadline.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2014 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Ethnically Diverse Freshman Class Arrives Sept. 4 for 2012-13 Academic Year

Call it “back to the future.”

When Lawrence University welcomed its first class in November, 1849, 13 of the 35 students were Oneida Indians.

This year’s incoming class of new students will be nearly 12 times larger than that initial class, but Native Americans will once again be an integral part of the mix. Eight Native Americans, representing Indian nations in Arizona, Iowa, New Mexico and Wisconsin, will be among the 417 incoming freshmen of the Class of 2016.

This year’s class of 450 new students — the second-largest freshman class in Lawrence history (2010 was the largest with 452) along with 33 transfer students — arrives Tuesday, Sept. 4 to begin a week of orientation activities. Classes for Lawrence’s 164th academic year begin Monday, Sept. 10.

Emmet Yepa, one of the incoming Native American students from New Mexico, arrives on campus as a two-time Grammy Award nominee and a nationally-recognized youth leader.

Emmet Yepa ’16

Yepa began singing with the 14-member drumming ensemble Black Eagles shortly after the band won a Grammy in 2004 for “Flying Free” in the Best Native American Music Album category. Yepa helped the Black Eagles garner two more Grammy nominations in 2005 and 2007. He composed the song “Your Precious Smile,” a tribute to his younger sister, Angelina, for the 2007 Grammy-nominated album “Voice of the Drums.”

“I’ve been singing since I was very, very young,” said Yepa. “My dad introduced me to singing and I eventually joined the group. I sing every day. I’m always singing at home. I enjoy singing from the heart, lifting people’s spirits and making people happy.”

In 2010, Yepa and his father left the Black Eagles to form a new group, Northern Vibe, a nine-member drumming ensemble.

“We’ve had lots of people asking us if we’re going to do a CD. We’re in the process, but we haven’t completed it yet,” said Yepa, who has recording his own solo CD on his to-do list as well.

Yepa composes and performs both in English and the Towa language. Jemez Pueblo, Yepa’s hometown of 1,800 about 70 miles southwest of Santa Fe, is the only place in the world where Towa is spoken.

“It’s (Towa) pretty hard to pass on, because it’s not a written language, it’s only an oral language,” said Yepa, the oldest of four siblings.

Last December, Yepa added a “Champions of Change” award to his budding resume. Yepa was one of just 11 Native Americans nationally recognized in a White House ceremony with President Obama that honored individual efforts to give back to the community and demonstrate leadership. Yepa was cited for his efforts to establish the first-ever recycling program in Jemez Pueblo. The Walatowa (traditional name of Jemez) Green Stars Recycling Group headed by Yepa focuses on preserving and keeping ancestral lands beautiful through recycling.

Yepa is a member of one of the most ethnically and geographically diverse incoming classes Lawrence has ever had:

• 21 percent (88) of the 417 freshmen are students of color.

• 38 states and 18 countries are represented

• Five of the top 10 states from which this year’s freshmen hail are Western states — California, New Mexico, Colorado, Washington and Oregon.

• 41  freshmen are international students, with China (6), Vietnam (4) and Ghana (3) accounting for the most.

Academically, 45 percent of this year’s freshmen ranked in the top 10 percent of their graduating class while 70 percent were in the top quarter of their class. The average grade point average of the incoming freshmen was 3.62.

“In terms of academic quality, this year’s class looks very similar to last year’s class,” said Ken Anselment, dean of admissions and financial aid.  “However, this year we enrolled a class that, in addition to being one of our largest, is more ethnically and geographically diverse than we have seen in a very long time.”

Approximately 80 percent of the freshmen are enrolling in Lawrence’s college of liberal arts and sciences while 20 percent are enrolling in the conservatory of music.

Ninety-four percent of incoming freshmen received need- or merit-based financial aid with need-based financial aid packages averaging $30,600.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,450 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.