Out-of-State Enrollment Soars, Academic Profile Raised

DePaul University’s newly released 2007 enrollment figures show both unprecedented admission demand among students, and a freshman class with the highest academic profile in school history.

This fall’s freshman class was 2,522 students – a decrease of less than one percent from last year – enrolled from a record 12,468 applications submitted. However, thanks in part to an increase in undergraduate transfer students, DePaul experienced a one percent overall increase in undergraduate enrollment, which climbed to an all-time high of 15,024. Total university enrollment climbed by 252 students to 23,401.

Academically, the freshman class demonstrated a composite mean score of 25 on the ACT and 1,153 on the SAT, as well as a mean high school GPA of 3.5. Additionally, the number of students who scored in the highest five percent of college admission exams nationally (an ACT score of 28 or higher) increased by approximately 14 percent over 2006.

True to its mission to provide access to education for students from a wide range of backgrounds, DePaul again enrolled a vibrantly diverse freshman class, with minority students making up approximately 27 percent of the class. Hispanic/Latino students make up 11.5 percent of the class. Asian and Pacific Islander students make up nearly 8 percent of the class, and African American students comprise 6.1 percent of the freshman class. In line with national trends, the university also saw a 59 percent increase over last year in the number of students electing not to report an ethnicity.

In a testament to the university’s rapidly rising national profile, DePaul enrolled a record number of out-of-state students this fall, who make up approximately 31 percent of the freshman class. Slightly more than 58 percent of the class is female.

“The 20 percent increase in freshman applications – well above this year’s average for Midwest private universities – affirms our higher visibility and growing national reputation,” said David Kalsbeek, senior vice president of Enrollment Management and Marketing at DePaul.

Graduate enrollment at the university totaled 7,353 this fall, an increase of three percent since last fall. The growth is due in large part to a 12 percent increase in enrollment at the nationally-ranked Kellstadt Graduate School of Business and an 8 percent increase in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Undergraduate programs with significant growth were programs now part of the new College of Communication, up eight percent over 2006, the School of Education (3 percent) and the College of Commerce (2 percent).

The most popular graduate majors at DePaul this fall are computer science, elementary education, information systems, finance and business. The most popular undergraduate majors are communication, psychology, accounting, finance and political science.

DePaul will rank as the nation’s largest Catholic university for the tenth consecutive year and will likely remain among the 10 largest private universities in the United States, as well.

In addition to its Lincoln Park and Loop campuses in Chicago, DePaul has campuses in Des Plaines, Naperville, Oak Forest and Rolling Meadows. DePaul is the largest private, not-for-profit university in the Midwest.