Student numbers: up and down

Last year, the percentage of Mennonites at EMU was at an all-time low, representing only 40 percent of the incoming class. This year, the admissions office was pleased that Mennonites were back in the majority for incoming students.

Mennonites comprise approximately 57 percent of this year's freshman class. According to Brad Miller of admissions, it is hard to attribute this rise to any specific cause. Enrollment tends to work in trends, Miller said. "Nobody [at Mennonite high schools] ever wants to go where the class before them went."

Despite President Loren Swartzendruber's predictions in June that "we can expect the number of new students this fall to be the highest in several years," this year's estimate of 206 first-year students is down from last year's 208. Total full-time enrollment for undergraduates is predicted to be 875, down from 893 last year. However, the number of transfer students has increased from 77 last year to 85 this year.

President Swartzendruber expressed disappointment in the declining enrollment, but was encouraged by the strong academic records and excellence of the incoming class.

The average first year's GPA is 3.46, and 20 percent of first-year students have a 4.0 or higher coming from high school. The average transfer student this year came in with a GPA of 3.2. Although this is lower than the first-years' average, Brad Miller points out that college is harder than high school and that could account for the slightly lower GPA.

The higher SAT scores are not just limited to EMU students. According to collegeboard.com, math scores nationwide for the class of 2005 are at an all-time high, following a strong upward trend.