A Touch of Class

Admission to Moravian’s Class of 2005 was the most competitive in the College’s 259-year history. The result is a freshman class of particularly high quality, as measured by high school class rank and SAT scores, according to the Admissions Office.

“Sixty-one percent of entering freshmen ranked in the top quarter of their high school class, up from 50% last year,” said Bernard Story, vice president for enrollment. “Twenty-four percent ranked in the top 10% of their class. In addition, average SAT scores of enrolled students have jumped from 1105 to 1120.”

Story said one of Moravian’s strongest weapons in the national intercollegiate war over top-notch students was “an expanded use of merit scholarships for students who had excelled in high school and who had demonstrated significant leadership and citizenship qualities.

“The College expanded its current list of merit scholarships,” he continued, “and added a Trustee Scholarship for students who were members of their high school National Honor Society.”

Just 67 percent of freshmen applications were accepted, the lowest acceptance rate on record. Nevertheless, the Class of 2005 has 320 freshmen, one of the College’s largest classes ever.

Most hail from the mid-Atlantic region and New England, but there are students from states as far away as Georgia, Wisconsin, and Washington. In addition, there are students from the Czech Republic, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

On a related note, Moravian College continued to score high marks in freshman retention (84 percent of its first-year students stay in school) and graduation rates (75 percent) in U.S. News and World Report’s 2002 ranking of the best American colleges.

“Moravian continues to climb in the numerical rankings,” Story said. “The College improved in six of the seven ranking categories and currently is ranked 14th in graduation rate performance among all national liberal arts colleges.”