Presbyterian College Freshman Enrollment Continues to Rise
Presbyterian College freshman enrollment for the upcoming academic year is up from last year, with three months still remaining before the fall semester begins.
At last count, 316 students had joined the Class of 2023. This current total is 44 more than the 272 students at this time last year and exceeds the number of freshmen at the beginning of the Fall 2018 semester.
"We're very excited about the incoming class," said Mark Fox '08, PC's director of admission. "The freshman class is a bright and talented group of students, and we can't wait to see all they'll accomplish when they arrive this fall."
The Class of 2023 has performed slightly better in the classroom than the Class of 2022 too. The GPA for the incoming freshmen is 4.17, compared to 4.09 for last year's freshmen. Further, the average SAT score for the Class of 2023 is 1158, compared to 1149 for the Class of 2022.
Not only is the number of freshmen already up from last year, but the number of out-of-state students has increased too. Seventy-three of the 316 freshmen are from out-of-state. Last year's freshman class included 54 out-of-state students in all.
Fox credits the increase in out-of-state students to additional staff, who traveled more than in previous years. Fox also acknowledges the important role played by the coaches recruiting athletes who can excel in the classroom. Many factors contributed to the overall increase in freshmen, Fox said, most notably sharing the PC story more strategically.
"One of the pillars of the strategic plan, the Promise of PC, is sharing our story," Fox said. "We've developed key partnerships in the digital realm that have helped us present messaging and imagery that resonates with students trying to decide which is the right college for them."
PC partners with Technolutions, an organization which provides admission technology for nearly a thousand colleges and universities across the country. The Technolutions software platform, Slate, helps the College deliver targeted messaging to students searching for colleges.
Slate also helps streamline the admissions process for students by allowing them to register for events like Accepted Students Day. Three out of four students who attended Accepted Students Day in March are among the incoming class of freshmen.
Also in the digital realm, PC's partnership with ZeeMee provided a platform for prospective students to hear from current PC students and engage with one another.
The campus has already begun preparing for growth. A new residence hall is currently being built to house 144 upperclassmen. The new residence hall includes three separate buildings. Two of the buildings are expected to be complete before the fall semester begins. The third is expected to be complete by early September.