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Inside Furman is published monthly during the school year by the Furman University Department of Marketing and Public Relations. For story ideas, e-mail John Roberts, editor.
Rising
applications, expectations
Class of 2006 is Furman's most selective, diverse
After eight months of coordinating, coaxing and counseling, the folks in Admissions can finally take a respite and enjoy the fruits of their labor.
The freshman class that arrives in September may be the university's finest to date. It will be the most selective, most diverse and, on paper, the strongest group academically to enroll at Furman.
The 730 students were chosen from a record 3,900 applicants. The acceptance rate this year was 59 percent, the lowest in Furman history. The class also includes record 85 minorities.
The average SAT score for the class is 1265 , compared with 1259 last year. The class includes 51 valedictorians, 33 salutatorians and 19 student body presidents. More than half finished in the top 10 percent of their class.
Admissions Director Woody O'Cain attributes the recruiting success, in part, to a state-of-the-art Welcome Center and a dynamic new marketing plan. The Hartness Welcome Center opened last year and is an impressive staging area for prospective students and parents visiting campus.
The university also launched a popular new admissions Web page, engagefurman.com, and produced a new viewbook last summer. The Web page features freshman journals, updated campus photos and extensive information about how to apply to Furman. The journals and accompanying photographs have proven popular with prospective students curious about college life.
Both the
Web page and the viewbook were recently recognized by CASE (Council for Advancement
and Support of Education), the national trade organization of higher education,
with an award of excellence.
As baby boomlets enter college in record numbers, many colleges and universities
are experiencing record applications and are becoming increasingly selective.
Acknowledging the trend, O'Cain says he would "stack up our gains at
Furman against anyone.
"A few years ago I think we would have been happy to compete against the Vanderbilts and Wake Forests of the world," he says. "Now we expect to compete with those institutions. And we are winning battles against other schools with deeper pockets and more prestigious reputations."
Most of Furman's
freshman class continues to hail from South Carolina (21 percent) and surrounding
states: Georgia (19 percent), Florida (8 percent), Tennessee (7 percent) and
North Carolina (11 percent).