Getting to Know the Class of 2015

The IU-Bloomington administration announced the second-largest enrollment in the University’s history, as 7,410 freshmen registered for classes.

It is also one of the most academically successful classes in years, the University Communications office said.

The average Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score rose two points to 1201 for freshmen studying at IU-Bloomington. More than 74 percent of new students were in the top quarter of their high school class.

Also, those who received National Merit awards nearly doubled, setting a record high at 84 percent this year — up 42 percent from last year’s class.

“I love the campus. It’s a beautiful campus,” Dana Nathan, a freshman from Northbrook, Ill., in the education program, said. “I’m really excited. I love
it here.”

Cheyenne Montijo, a freshman from Chicago, said she hopes to study legal studies.
“It had a lot of opportunity, and it had the major that I want,” Montijo said of why she chose IU. “And it’s not incredibly far from home.”

Arthur Masyuk, a freshman studying music from Omaha, Neb., said he lived in Bloomington for a month in 2008 while participating in the IU Summer String Academy. Masyuk said he likes that he can hang out with non-music students as well.

A native of Bloomington, Dane LeBeau said he and his friends never gave IU a second thought — it was a backup plan in case they didn’t get accepted elsewhere.

“It’s always been in my backyard,” the freshman said.

But as the years went on, LeBeau said he realized IU’s positives and decided to enroll. His mother is involved in the alumni center and his older brother is a junior at the University as well.

American citizens aren’t the only ones increasing IU’s enrollment. International
enrollment is also up about half a percent. The countries with high enrollment are China, India, Taiwan and South Korea.

Across IU-Bloomington,42,081 students are enrolled in 565,010 credit hours — both figures are up about half a percent from last year.

IU is reporting 108,041 students enrolled at all eight campuses across the state on the first day of classes.

The figure recorded a week after classes start, known as the census figure, is expected to pass last year’s record of 109,445, but the official number won’t be available until early September, the University Communications office said.