Record-breaking new class arrives at Kenyon College

GAMBIER, Ohio (September 3, 2004) Classes began Monday, August 30, at Kenyon College as 470 new students arrived on campus.

The past year wrote history for Kenyon's Office of Admissions. Not only did the College receive a record number of applications, leading to a record-low admittance rate, but it also composed a first-year class with increased diversity and equal numbers of men and women.

The Office of Admissions received nearly 3,800 applications in 2003-04, up 13 percent from last year. Over the past four years, the College has seen a 90 percent rise in applications. The admittance rate fell to a record low of 38 percent, down from 44 percent last year and 66 percent four years ago. The percentage of admitted students choosing to enroll at Kenyon rose to a four-year high of 32.5 percent.

Students of color constitute 13 percent of the class, up from less than 10 percent in recent years.

The academic qualifications of the class remain high. Average SAT scores of 673 verbal and 648 math are virtually identical to last year's class, as is the average ACT score of 29. The average unweighted high school GPA was 3.73, with 50 percent of incoming first-year students graduating in the top 10 percent of their class. Thirty-two members of the class are first-generation college students. The class also includes sixty-one legacies, loosely defined as relatives of those who attend or who have attended Kenyon.

-more-

NEWS RELEASE

Page 2

All geographical regions of the country, and nearly all the states, are sending students to Kenyon this fall. Nine percent of the class hails from New England; 31 percent from the Middle Atlantic states; 8 percent from the South; 15 percent from the Midwest excluding Ohio; 19 percent from Ohio; and 14 percent from the West and Southwest. Four percent of the class are arriving at Kenyon from other countries, including Argentina, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Latvia, Mexico, Moldova, Nepal, Netherland, Antilles, Pakistan, People's Republic of China, Romania, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Venezuela.