A record-breaking group of first-year students heads to its first classes today.
Making up this year’s class is 7,708 students, compared to last year’s 7,604.
“We have a larger class because IU continues to be attractive,” said David Johnson, vice provost of enrollment management.
A record 1,042 underrepresented minorities enrolled, marking the first time more than 1,000 underrepresented minorities have enrolled, reflecting progress toward Strategic Plan goals.
The African-American and Hispanic populations experienced a particularly large boost, with a 7-percent increase and a 10-percent increase, respectively, according to the release.
Additionally, 711 international students represent 41 countries and six continents, while domestic students come from 47 of 50 states, plus the District of Columbia, and 89 of 92 Indiana counties.
Neither Idaho, Montana nor North Dakota, nor Warren, Fulton or Pulaski counties are represented.
Fifty-seven percent of students are in-state domestic, 34 percent are out-of-state domestic and 9 percent are international, compared to last year’s 58 percent, 34 percent and 8 percent, respectively.
A new team focused on diversity-oriented recruitment and a new position, filled by Khala Granville, focused on Indianapolis-based recruitment, were created for the increase in diversity, Johnson said.
Johnson also attributed the increase to increased collaboration between the Office of Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs and the Groups Scholars, Hudson and Holland and 21st Century Scholars programs.
“IU is a global institution,” Johnson said. “It is not just a state or national, but an international institution. It is imperative that we have differing ideas and thoughts in the classroom. Opportunity for learning is greatly increased when we have a diverse student population. And it reflects the greater society of not just the state or the U.S. but of the world.”
The increase in diversity reflects the University’s increased focus on diversity, particularly on the recruitment and enrollment of underrepresented minorities, found in the IU Bloomington Strategic Plan.
“(Diversity) is part of the Strategic Plan because every group that worked on the Strategic Plan had a diversity component, and the provost is very interested in ensuring that we provide appropriate focus there to really make good on our plans to enroll a very talented, yet diverse class,” Johnson said. “And it was a very collaborative approach.”
This year’s class not only grew in numbers but in academic achievement, as well, with a higher median GPA.
The class has a median high school GPA of 3.73, the highest in IU history and a slight jump from last year’s 3.72, and the second highest mean combined SAT/ACT score of 1215, a minor drop from last year’s 1217, according to a press release.
In this year’s class, 33.3 percent were in the top 10 percent of their high school class, compared to last year’s 34.5 percent, and 26 percent of this year’s class were admitted directly into an academic program, compared to last year’s 25 percent.
Students arriving with sophomore status make up 8.9 percent of the class, compared to last year’s 8.6 percent.
“It’s recruitment, it’s scholarships, it’s the reputation of IU and then it’s the continued just being more selective as a selective institution, just becoming more selective with whom we’re able to admit and just having a much brighter applicant pool,” Johnson said.
