News > August 25, 2005

By Meg Henry

Assistant News Editor

The university welcomed its most diverse class ever on Aug. 18th.  According to Martha Allman, Director of Admissions, the class of 2009 consist of 17% multicultural students, a record high percentage.

The admissions department also received a record high number of applications for the 2009 class.  Of the 7,486 applications, 2,882 students were accepted and about 39% of them were enrolled.

With 1,122 students, this year’s freshman class is nearly as large last year’s class, which at the time was unprecedented in its size.

“The number of applicants has increased slightly since 2000 but we had a really significant increase this year.  Our number of campus visitors has gone up,” Allman said. “We are also expanding our recruitment efforts on the west coast.”

Freshmen began moving into residence halls at 8 a.m. Aug. 18. Despite the hindrance of rain, move-in went fairly smoothly, according to Connie Carson, the Director of Residence Life and Housing.

Orientation events were trimmed down and organized closer together which allowed it to be shortened by one day this year, according to Carson.  The events were frequent but helpful, said Mary Morser, a freshman from Potomac, MD.

“I thought orientation was very helpful in getting to know Wake Forest better. They gave us an idea of what to expect in terms of clubs, classes, professors and all the activities Wake offers, ” Morser said.

Students went through the typical ThinkPad distribution, exemption exams and dinner with their advising groups. Student Union and Dining Services put on the “Eat, Meet and Greet,” a new event to this year’s orientation schedule. Food and entertainment were available to the students as they socialized in the newly renovated Reynolda Cafeteria, according to Carson. 

Students also attended a presentation at Scales Fine Arts Center by the WFU players called “Wake World” which gave them an introduction to life at the university.

Forty-four states are represented in the class of 2009, along with eleven other countries. Of the forty-four states from which students were accepted, North Carolina was most represented with 26% of the class, followed by New Jersey at 7 percent, and Virginia, Maryland and Florida at 6 percent each.

The academic achievement is comparable to years past with 38 percent of students in the top 5 percent of their high school class. 61 percent were in the top 10 percent of their class. The average middle 50 percent SAT range of this class is between 1290 and 1400.