DePauw Welcomes 642 New Students
August 17, 2001
August 17, 2001, Greencastle, Ind. -- DePauw University is making final preparations for the arrival of 642 new students to campus this weekend. Six hundred and twenty three of the incoming group are first year students, with the balance (19) being transfers from other schools.
[DOWNLOAD VIDEO: "New Class" 70KB]"We had a very strong admissions season this last year," reports Madeleine Eagon, vice president for admission and financial aid. "It was a strong applicant pool both in terms of numbers and academic quality." The median, unweighted high school grade point average of the incoming freshmen is 3.64 on a four point scale). The median class rank is 90%, meaning they ranked in the top ten percent of their graduating classes. Forty one were valedictorians or salutatorians.
DePauw received a record number of applications (3,055) in a year when the University joined the top tier of national liberal arts colleges, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. 
[DOWNLOAD VIDEO: "Quality Affirmed" 453KB] 
[DOWNLOAD AUDIO: "Quality Affirmed" 98KB]"We feel that DePauw has been a high quality institution for a long time," Eagon says. "As you know, if we tell students that, it's like, `yeah, whatever, you're just paid to say that.' But the more we receive external recognition about all of the many things that we do for our students, and the quality of our faculty and the strength of our situation financially, the more likely it is that students will want to consider DePauw and pursue it."
Thirty five states and the District of Columbia are represented in the incoming class, and 15 new international students will be coming from ten different countries. Students who have parents or other relatives who are alumni of DePauw comprise twenty percent of the entering class.
New students will arrive on campus Saturday, August 18. After moving into their residence halls, at 3 p.m. they will gather in Kresge Auditorium of the Performing Arts Center for the traditional opening convocation, and a welcome from DePauw University President Robert G. Bottoms. Friday, August 17, at the annual faculty institute, Dr. Bottoms told the University's faculty, "our purpose is to guide the new class in their development. We want to require a lot. We want to expect a lot, and have clear expectations and help students reach them."
DePauw was seeking to enroll 630 new students, but exceeding that total by twelve will not be a strain, according to James L. Lincoln, vice president for student services. [DOWNLOAD VIDEO: "Bed Space" 428KB] [DOWNLOAD VIDEO: "Making Room" 736KB] [DOWNLOAD VIDEO: "Making Room" 38KB] "We have some rooms that were designed to be used as triples. At the same time, I can tell you there are some doubles that have been turned into singles for next year."