RU's largest freshman class

Rockhurst University will welcome the largest freshman class in university history this weekend as students move into residence halls in preparation for the start of classes Wednesday, Aug. 22.

 This year’s freshman class numbers 450 students compared with 326 last year. The previous record was set in 2009 with 417 freshmen. In addition to being strong in numbers, the class is strong academically as well. The overall ACT composite score and GPA averages for this incoming class rank these students in the top 16 percent of all fall college- bound students nationwide.

 The Office of Admission implemented a number of changes during the past year, which resulted in the increase.

 “The bottom line is that we spent more time communicating directly with students and their parents to make sure families were familiar with what we had to offer,” said Lane Ramey, associate vice president for enrollment management. “This included phone calls from faculty members and current students. We also worked to make a Rockhurst education more affordable by increasing academic scholarship levels.”

 This year’s class comes from 17 states and one foreign country, nearly 19 percent are from minority groups and the top two areas of academic interest are nursing and business, followed by the ever-popular “undecided.”

Click here to watch a story about this year's class from 41 Action News.