{"id":95823,"date":"2014-08-21T05:00:53","date_gmt":"2014-08-21T09:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=95823"},"modified":"2023-06-27T13:11:46","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:11:46","slug":"uconns-incoming-students-set-new-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2014\/08\/uconns-incoming-students-set-new-records\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn’s Incoming Students Set New Records"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Groups<\/a>
Groups of students walk across campus. (Sean Flynn\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Almost 6,000 new Huskies, including the most diverse and high-achieving freshman class to date, will be joining other underclassmen returning this fall to Storrs and UConn campuses throughout Connecticut.<\/p>\n

Students start moving in to residence halls on the Storrs campus beginning Friday, and fall semester classes begin next week at all of the campuses.<\/p>\n

The new students include almost 3,600 freshmen and 800 transfer students arriving in Storrs<\/a>, and almost 1,400 freshmen and more than 200 transfers attending the UConn campuses in greater Hartford<\/a>, Stamford<\/a>, Waterbury<\/a>, Avery Point<\/a>, and Torrington<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In recent years, each incoming freshman class has set the bar higher for those coming afterward, and this year\u2019s newcomers are no exception.<\/p>\n

\"Froshgraph_2014_01<\/a><\/div>\n

With an average SAT of 1234, the Class of 2018 outpaced last year\u2019s freshmen by 1 point, continuing an upward trend that has supported UConn\u2019s momentum as it pushes toward becoming one of the nation\u2019s top-tier public research institutions.<\/p>\n

The freshman class is also by far the most diverse in UConn\u2019s history, with one-third (33.8 percent) of its members representing minority groups. The previous record was 27 percent, set last year.<\/p>\n

UConn has been on a strongly positive trajectory for almost two decades, dating to the time when the University and state launched the UConn 2000 infrastructure improvement project in 1995.<\/p>\n

\"Froshgraph_2014_02<\/a><\/div>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re proud to offer a world-class education at a tremendous value, and certainly that is drawing incredible students to our campuses,\u201d President Susan Herbst says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy all measures, this year\u2019s freshmen class is the most talented, diverse group we\u2019ve ever welcomed, and those transferring here from other institutions have established strong foundations that will help them thrive at UConn,\u201d she says. \u201cWe can be confident of great things ahead, both for our new students and for the University itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

If social media are any indication, many of the students joining UConn this fall as freshmen or transfer students are brimming with excitement.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve been counting down the days to move in while using the #UConnBound hashtag on Twitter<\/a>, and have been trading tips with current students on classes, residence halls<\/a>, and the Storrs social scene.<\/p>\n

The incoming students represent the cream of a very significant crop: Nearly 32,200 aspiring students applied this year for admission, a new record high.<\/p>\n

UConn\u2019s applications have more than tripled since 1995, when the University received about 9,900. That\u2019s despite a dip in the number of high school graduates in Connecticut and nationwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe size and talent of UConn\u2019s applicant pool has helped to increasingly raise the University\u2019s caliber in recent years, even as the number of high school seniors in the Northeast is on the decline,\u201d says Nathan Fuerst, UConn\u2019s director of undergraduate admissions<\/a>. \u201cMost of our admitted students have many schools from which to choose, and their decision to enroll here is a great vote of confidence in UConn\u2019s quality and value.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Froshgraph_2014_03<\/a><\/div>\n

UConn has also increasingly become the destination for valedictorians and salutatorians, with 169 joining the ranks of the Huskies this year \u2013 up from 165 last year, and from 40 in 1995.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s incoming freshmen also include 505 students enrolling in the highly selective Honors Program<\/a>, up from 456 last year, and the largest number of Honors Program students to enroll in UConn in a single year.<\/p>\n

The average SAT scores of incoming freshmen have jumped from 1028 in 1995 to this year\u2019s average of 1234, and the current initiative in place to hire hundreds of new tenure-track professors has helped push class sizes down to about 16 students per faculty member. It was 18:1 just a few years ago.<\/p>\n

The hiring of new faculty<\/a> is also helping UConn offer more courses, providing more availability for students to help them graduate on time.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Connecticut student enrollment at UConn has increased more than 15 percent at the Storrs campus in the past decade. Opportunities for Connecticut residents to attend UConn have been increasing and will continue to do so, with the undergraduate student body projected this fall to comprise about 80 percent of students from within the state.<\/p>\n

UConn expects to continue and increase its competitiveness in recruiting highly talented freshman classes and students who\u2019ve established a solid foundation of achievement at other institutions and wish to transfer to UConn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The faculty hiring push has helped strengthen UConn\u2019s academic core in programs across the curriculum, while the $1.5 billion Next Generation Connecticut<\/a> initiative is transforming academics and facilities in critical STEM areas (science, technology, engineering, and math) over the coming decade.<\/p>\n

In fact, engineering<\/a> and biology<\/a> were among the programs that drew particularly high interest from applicants this year, along with psychology<\/a> \u2013 which has been UConn\u2019s largest major in recent years \u2013 and business<\/a> programs.<\/p>\n

And just as new students are preparing to start their UConn careers, the University has been busy getting everything in place to ensure they get the most out of the experience, both academically and socially.<\/p>\n

That ranges from helping them settle into residential life<\/a> at Storrs to informing them of career services<\/a>, health<\/a> and counseling<\/a> programs, cultural centers<\/a> and student activities<\/a>, and the wide variety of other resources available on the campuses. The University also this year re-established its Dean of Students Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cPowerful learning occurs on both sides of the classroom door during college and, knowing that, we\u2019re always working to connect with students and support their personal development and academic success,\u201d says Michael Gilbert, UConn\u2019s vice president for student affairs<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s our priority to offer guidance and resources to them so they get engaged on campus with their peers and find comfort and a true home at the University.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 6,000 new Huskies include the most diverse and high-achieving freshman class to date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":95818,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[124],"class_list":["post-95823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-university-life"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 22:30:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95823"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95827,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95823\/revisions\/95827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/95818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95823"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=95823"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=95823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}