Release date: April 8, 2002
Contact: Deb Hammacher, Associate Director, Media Relations,
at 404-727-0644 or dhammac@emory.edu

Admission Trends Emerge for the
Emory College Class of 2006

Nine out of 10 Emory freshmen – an extremely high rate – come from the top 10 percent of their high school class, a long-standing trend that Dean of Admission Dan Walls expects to continue with the class of 2006.

New this year is the rise in applications from the South, including seven percent more from Georgia, perhaps due to economic pressures to keep close to home, or even as an aftermath of Sept. 11. "Other schools also are getting more applicants from their regions, so it appears parents may be trying to reduce travel costs," says Walls. "Anecdotally there is more talk about financial pressures due to the weak economy." Walls speculates that a general population shift from the Northeast to the Southeast may spur long-term growth in applications from the South.

Other ongoing trends are the continued rise in early decision and international applications, the latter up nearly 50 percent in the last three years.

On the early decision front, 15 percent more students applied early to Emory College this year than last (Emory has two rounds, allowing students to be certain of their choice). Early decision applicants comprise 42 percent of the 1,225 slots in the class. The combined early-decision applicants have an average SAT of 1318, an average ACT of 33 and a GPA of 3.81.

The geographic distribution of all undergraduate applicants shows shifts in the South and Eastern seaboard:

Southeast, 36 percent (Ga., 18 percent); Middle Atlantic, 35 percent, Midwest, 11 percent; New England, 7 percent; Southwest, 4 percent; West, 6 percent; and international, 1.5 percent.

On the international side, the dramatic rise in applications from abroad is getting Emory to its goal of five percent international enrollment quite quickly. "We may actually hit 5 percent this fall, and we are just scratching the surface with international recruitment." Walls says Emory’s reputation and location, coupled with increased recruiting are the cause of the growth.

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