U's freshman class has its ACT together

Updated: October 4, 2007 - 9:33 PM

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The math is pretty simple. An ever-increasing number of applicants to the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus vying for essentially the same number of classroom spots means the school can pick and choose who it lets in.

The result? The 5,280-member freshman class has been dubbed by university administrators as the "best academically prepared in history."

• The average ACT score for this freshman class is 25.9, up from 25.2 a year ago and 24.7 in 2002.

• Forty-four percent of the current freshmen graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class, up from 39 percent a year ago and 30 percent five years ago.

• In addition, this class features 96 National Merit Scholar finalists. A year ago, that number was 74.

The data released Thursday also showed just how much more difficult it is for high-school students to get accepted to the state's flagship university. Over the past five years, the number of applicants to the university has grown by nearly 77 percent while class size has remained nearly static.

Of the 26,095 applicants for the Class of 2011, 57.8 percent were sent letters of acceptance. Five years ago, the application total was 14,755 and 77.4 percent of applicants were accepted.

JEFF SHELMAN