Each spring, Elizabethtown College waves on another round of graduates, hopefully ready and not always willing to take on multitude of responsibilities they’ll face being out in the “real world.” By the time they leave, they are as much a part of this college as any of the dorms, the building, the faculty, or any other component of Elizabethtown. Having left their mark on this school, and the school in turn having left it’s mark upon them, Elizabethtown loses a bit of it’s culture. Thankfully, in the fall we welcome a new set of students, excited and ready for the college experience. They’ll replace what was lost, and as they grow to find themselves though the trials and tribulations we’ve all face at this school at some point or another, they in turn will impart their marks on the culture and community here. Being such a large part of the community in both population and spirit, it’s prudent for us to all take a look at those who have recently joined our ranks as Elizabethtown College students.
Luckily, I had the opportunity to interview Paul Cramer, the Vice President of Enrollment at Elizabethtown College. Through him, a clearer and more defined picture of the first-year class was formed. In response to what makes this class so unique, Cramer had nothing but positive remarks to give. “This class comes from the largest application pool in the history of the college,” Cramer said. They are also “the most ethnically diverse ever, with 13% of its members coming from underrepresented populations.” While that figure is not exactly as large as we would like it to be, it’s still a marked improvement from four years ago, and it seems that our community is only getting more diverse as time goes on.
The first-year class not only has the most diverse and largest student population, but also, “Two-thirds of this class were involved in service prior to their arrival at Elizabethtown.” E-town seems to have a lot to look forward to from the Class of 2016.
Every year, the college strives to make itself known in as many areas as possible. Because of the hard work the Admissions office puts in to publicizing the college, there has been a great increase in the number of applicants applying to Elizabethtown. Cramer stated, “The rise in applications is a clear indication of the growing reputation of the College. While Admissions works very hard to get the Elizabethtown story out to more and more students, families, and influencers, it is the case that the entire campus has done much to elevate Elizabethtown College in the public eye. Everything, from the success of our graduates, the scholarship of our faculty, the exposure of our staff, and the achievements of our current students, helps to expand and extend the already strong reputation of Elizabethtown.”
The class of 2016 currently holds the record for the most accepted students, with 517 incoming first years. However, this is not surprising, considering that that record has been broken by every class currently attending E-town. Our acceptance rate seems to be holding steady, with 69% of applicants accepted this year, compared to 65.8% accepted in the fall of 2011. According to the New York Times, the average acceptance rate among all colleges in the United States sits at 66%.
While the class of 2016 was more ethnically diverse, it did not show the same marked increase in gender diversity. Only 36.2% of accepted students were male, a figure that has more or less remained steady for the last three years, with 34.2% male in 2011, and 37.5% male in 2010.
As most college students know, deciding on a major is one of the harder decisions when getting ready for college. This year, “95% of the first-year class identified an intended major on their application.” Cramer said. While some of these students are bound to switch eventually, that’s still a pretty impressive figure. Of those 490 students with declared majors, more of them chose Business Administration than any other field. This just serves to highlight the strength and popularity of our business department, which has always been a draw for incoming students, in addition to students who have already had a year or two at Elizabethtown under their belts.
After getting a closer look on the first-years, we can see that Elizabethtown is growing more and more every year and gaining numerous amounts of diverse students. As the years go by, they will leave their mark and carry on the legacy of Elizabethtown College.
