News > April 14, 2005

By Dan Connors

Old Gold & Black Reporter

For yet another consecutive year, the university has accepted a record-breaking class of incoming freshmen. For the 2005-2006 academic school year, the office of admissions reports a dramatic rise in both total applications and applications by minority students.

“Wake Forest received 7450 freshman admissions applications this year,” said Martha Allman director of admissions. “This is an 18 percent increase over last year’s applications, and an all time record.” Last year 2,945 freshmen were accepted and an eventual 1,121 enrolled at the university, according to admissions.

With homogeneity a resonating issue across campus, the office of admissions was especially happy to report that this year’s applicant pool was also the most diverse in the school’s history. “We enjoyed a 24 percent increase in multicultural applicants including a 35 percent increase in African-American applicants,” Allman said.

Along with being the largest and most diverse pool of applicants in the school’s history, the newly admitted class is also the most academically competitive the university has ever seen. Seventy-seven percent of these admitted students will be graduating in the top 10 percent of their high school classes. Also, this group of applicants has been accepted with an average SAT score of 1381. This is a jump up from last year’s average of 1315.

“One thing I really commend Wake Forest for is that I feel as if they actually take quality time with the applications so that they have every opportunity to consider the applicants from all perspectives,” sophomore Kaitlin Holcombe said. “I believe that they want to compose a class of students that will be different from each other, not just in race, gender, or what state they are from, but diverse in their interests, talents, and academic specialties.”

The admissions office once again welcomed many visitors April 11 for Campus Day, an event for accepted students. 

Hundreds of accepted high school seniors and their parents attend such events annually.  The day includes informational programs, tours of the Reynolda campus and a student activities fair.  Another campus day will be held April 22.

The university, currently ranks 27th among 248 national universities in the 2005 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges.” The university also made the list of outstanding first-year experiences.