New students laugh heartily
at Freshman Songfest
Freshmen Carrie Hallam, Kristen Jones and Harold Min enjoy the hysterics
of
Freshman Songfest held Aug. 25 in the P.E. Center. The annual competition
features students from each freshman residence hall writing and
performing
songs that promote their halls. The presentations are then judged by a
panel of
Emory administrators. This year's winners were the freshmen from the
Smith-Thomas-Hopkins Complex. Freshman Songfest was just one of many
orientation activities for the Class of 1999, whose 1,263 students make
it the
largest entering class in Emory College history. The target size for this
year's freshman class was a mere 1,120. One reason for the large increase
was a
corresponding increase in the yield, the number of students offered
admission
who ultimately accept. That number was up by about 4 percent. The class
average
Scholastic Aptitude Test score was 1225, and the average high school
grade
point average hovered between 3.6 and 3.7. About 25 percent of the class
are
members of minority groups, with 12 percent Asian-American, 9 percent
African-American and 3.5 percent Hispanic. Forty-one percent of freshmen
are
from the Southeast, with 18.5 percent from Georgia. Freshmen from other
regions
include 27 percent from the mid-Atlantic states, 10.5 percent from the
Midwest,
8 percent from New England, 5 percent from the Southwest and 7 percent
from the
West. Sixty freshmen come from California, up from about a dozen 10 years
ago.
Women account for 55 percent of this year's freshmen.