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Courtesy of survivingcollege.com[/caption]
This year’s average SAT score submitted by freshman applicants was a record high for Seton Hall coming in at 1144, an increase of 14 points from last year’s score of 1130.
This incoming class’ collective score derives from the SAT sections of mathematics and critical reading. Distinguishing themselves from upperclassmen, the freshmen class also applied to Seton Hall with higher GPAs.
According to Vice President of Enrollment Management, Alyssa McCloud, the SAT scores for freshman have been trending upward for a while.
Although she does not know exact numbers, she said applications have nearly doubled since 2011.
“It’s not that the freshmen are doing something different to get the scores,” she explained. “We have twice as many students applying to Seton Hall than we did in the past, so there’s more people interested and so among that pool of people there are more students who have performed well on the SAT.”
McCloud says that these higher scores are making Seton Hall professors hope for better classroom discussions and for a more rigorous curriculum in the future.
While the freshman class has higher SAT scores, it also is bigger than in years past. About 1,415 freshmen have been welcomed to Seton Hall this year, with 1,094 living on campus according to NJ.com.
This number of freshmen is a sharp increase from the university’s average enrollment of about 1,250 freshmen students a year.
More freshman are choosing to come to SHU because of certain factors elevating campus,” McCloud said.
“I think that the admissions staff worked really hard; they’ve increased visits to high schools all across the country and we’re just doing more outreach, more mailing, more phone calls,” said McCloud. “So certainly more efforts are a part of the reason (that more students are applying).”
“I wanted to go to Seton Hall too,” Dr. Tracy Gottlieb, Vice President of Student Services, said in an email. “It’s a great school with great academic programs. It’s not too big that you get lost in the shuffle. There’s plenty to do. It is in the shadow of New York City and it’s located in a lovely college town.”
The dynamic experience that SHU has to offer students has attracted more out-of-state freshmen than in previous years. The yearly average of out-of-state students increased from 30 percent to 40 percent, creating a higher demand for housing on campus, resulting this year in Seton Hall students being sent to Rutgers Newark dorms due to a shortage of housing.
While Seton Hall has welcomed its largest freshman class yet, increased enrollment has been a gradual success for SHU over the years.
“We have now had four years of moderated growth in admissions,” said Dr. Gottlieb. “In addition, we had more upperclassmen who wanted to live on campus.”
Ashley Turner can be reached at ashley.turner1@student.shu.edu.
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