Freshman Class Breaks Records

Freshmen and university staff are excited that the class of 2016 has broken numerous UConn records, including higher SAT scores and high school academic percentile rankings.

“I think that I am the most proud about the overall quality of the applicant pool,” said the Director of Undergraduate Admissions, Nathan Fuerst. Fuerst said the improved grades and leadership activities of the class of 2016 impressed him.

Fuerst also said he wants students to challenge themselves both academically and socially. He said he would like students to “try to make the most of the undergraduate experience as possible.”
This is the 12th consecutive freshman class to improve upon the previous year’s academic performance. The school is drawing more national attention as a prestigious university and is seeing more applications from students out of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Freshmen around campus are pleased to be among other competitive students.

Melissa Kenney, a Cheshire High School 2012 graduate and 1st-semester student, was in the top 5 percent of her high school class with a 4.2 GPA.

Kenney has a plan to keep up her grades in a new college environment.

“I plan to balance school and extracurricular activities by putting school first and getting prepared for class,” she said. “I just want to put myself out there and try a lot of new things.”
Julia DeMoranville, a 1st-semester biology major from Wakefield, Rhode Island, graduated 23rd out of almost 300 in her high school class with a GPA of 4.3. She is now in the Honors Program.

DeMoranville was class president, captain of two high school teams and founder of one club.

“I have a lot of leadership experience,” she said. “That was a huge part of why I got in.”
Almost 3,200 freshmen and 875 transfers enrolled for the fall 2012 semester.