Record pools bring high hopes for Class of 2013
Boosted by record applicant pools, William & Mary is welcoming one of its most accomplished and diverse groups of new students this week. Graduate and professional students are already arriving to campus and new freshman members of the Class of 2013 and transfers arrive Friday.
"William & Mary continues to attract marvelous new students," William & Mary President Taylor Reveley said. "They come with powerful credentials and compelling backgrounds. We look forward to their becoming stellar new members of the W&M family."
The undergraduate applicant pool was the College's largest ever with more than 12,100 students applying - a more than 70 percent increase over the past decade and a 4 percent increase over last year. The new class comes to Williamsburg with strong academic credentials, including a middle 50th percentile of 1260-1430 on the SAT math and critical reading sections. Seventy-nine percent of enrolling students who provide high-school rank finished in the top 10 percent of their class. Twenty-five percent of this year's freshmen are students of color.
"The extraordinary caliber of this year's undergraduate applicant pool made our selection process very difficult," said Dean of Admission Henry Broaddus. "We're very excited about their potential."
William & Mary's graduate and professional schools also saw increases in applications. Nearly 5,000 people, a record and nine-percent increase, applied for one of 213 spots in the newest class at the William & Mary Law School.
That success was repeated across campus. In Arts & Sciences, graduate applications increased 14 percent. Applications to the full-time MBA program at the Mason School of Business rose nearly nine percent. Graduate applications also rose at the School of Education (17 percent) and the VIMS' School of Marine Science (17 percent).
The Class of 2013 brings together students with a variety of backgrounds and experiences. The freshman class of roughly 1,400 students includes a professional magician, someone who personally researched the Congo Mountain Gorilla, and a student who biked 3,100 miles cross-country. They also include a national champion trampoline gymnast, the youngest licensed sailing captain in Connecticut, someone who presented the original paper on the Georgia sea turtle at the National Zoo's Conservation and Research Center, a nationally competitive shag dancer, and someone who has eaten the heart of a cobra. The new class includes 55 international students and 151 first-generation students. Sixty-four percent of all new students, including freshman and transfers, come from Virginia and this year's undergraduate student body is 65 percent in-state.
"We are very happy with this group of entering students," said Earl Granger, associate provost for enrollment. "They have excelled academically and they also bring to campus a wide range of backgrounds and talents. We look forward to their contributions to the campus community over the next four years, and the years that follow upon their graduation."
