Most selective class in College history arrives on campus

Last weekend in Gambier, vans, station wagons, and U-Hauls discharged stereos, musical instruments, footlockers, large plastic storage tubs, mini refrigerators, microwaves, and computers, along with their owners, the 455 members of the Class of 2007.

A record-breaking number of students applied for admission to this class. The number of applications ballooned to 3,363, compared to 2,838 last year and 2,002 the year before. The selectivity rate fell to 46 percent, from 52 percent last year and 66 percent the year before. This improvement to an admittance rate of less than 50 percent places Kenyon in select company: only two hundred colleges and universities nationwide accept fewer than half of their applicants. Thirty percent of admitted students chose to enroll at Kenyon, unchanged from last year.

"The Class of 2007 took us by surprise, in terms of achievement, numbers, and enthusiasm for Kenyon," says Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Jennifer Delahunty Britz. "The students we encountered this past year are among the most interesting and talented who've ever come to Kenyon. Already we are hearing back from faculty that they are so pleased with their advisees."

Academic quality has risen along with the volume of applications, noted Director of Admissions M. Beverly Morse, who as acting dean of admissions last year admitted the Class of 2007. Forty-three students, nearly 10 percent of the class, are National Merit Scholars, an all-time record for the College. The average combined SAT score was 1322, with the average ACT score at 30. Twenty-one percent of the class graduated in the top 1 percent of their high-school class, up 4 percent from last year, with more than half the class ranked in the top 10 percent of their high-school class. The average reported high-school grade-point average was 3.76, with 10 percent of the class having a grade-point average of 4.0. Kenyon saw a high yield on admitted Honors scholars.

The class is composed of 55 percent women and 45 percent men. This compares with a high of 59 percent women two years ago, and 56 percent last year, indicating a trend toward greater gender balance over the past two years.

Minority students make up approximately 10 percent of the entering class, including ten African Americans, seventeen Asian Americans, and thirteen Latino/Hispanic Americans, as well as one Native American and one multi-ethnic student. The total number of new minority students increased to forty-two, compared to thirty-eight last year.

Twenty-five members of the class are first-generation college students. The class includes sixty-seven legacies, loosely defined as relatives of those who attend or have attended Kenyon; this figure is up from fifty-eight last year. Nearly 30 percent of the class applied early decision, another all-time high for the College.

Geographic diversity among the first-year class remains strong, with forty-one states and more than a dozen foreign countries represented. Approximately 14 percent hail from New England, 24 percent from the Middle Atlantic states, 13 percent from the South, 17 percent from the Midwest excluding Ohio, 21 percent from Ohio, and 10 percent from the West and Southwest combined. Foreign students have arrived from Belarus, Botswana, Brazil, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

The financial aid office plowed through 400 additional applications for aid this year, processing 2,156 applications as compared with 1,756 last year. In addition, the average need of those applying was higher than last year.