Academic Quality and Diversity Define Webster University’s 2011 Freshman Class

Academically strong and diverse. Those two adjectives aptly describe Webster University's 2011 entering freshman class. The class leads in academic quality, boasting an average high school GPA of 3.50. Looking at diversity, Webster's nonwhite ethnicity enrollment in the entering freshman class has grown to 21 percent this year, compared to 14 percent in 2007. And, with 478 students, it’s the University's largest freshman class since 2007, and 12.5 percent larger than last year.

"Our recruitment and retention efforts are closely aligned with the University's mission of ensuring high-quality learning experiences that transform students for global citizenship and individual excellence," said Webster University Senior Vice President and Provost Julian Schuster. "With that as our guide, we intentionally focus our efforts on recruiting and retaining a class that is both strong academically and diverse."

"This growth in size, quality and diversity is unusual in higher education and speaks to the attractiveness of Webster University to undergraduates," said Paul Carney, Webster's vice president for enrollment management and student affairs.

Carney said Webster outpaces its competitor group in retention rates from freshman to sophomore year. Webster’s first-year retention is 80 percent, compared to the competitor-group average of 75 percent.

"Another point that illustrates Webster's unusual ability to support students' success is that, when it comes to retention, we outpace our competitor group in closing the gaps often present between majority and minority students and female/male students," Carney said.

Freshman Class "Fun Facts"

Webster University’s 2011-2012 freshman class includes:

• Seven high school valedictorians.

• Sixty-four percent, or 307 of this year's 478 freshmen, are from Missouri. This compares to 261 out of 425 last year.

• A record-high 74 freshmen from Illinois, with 12 from the Chicago area. The previous high was 62.

• A record-high 23 students from Texas. The previous high was 20.

• Other top states sending freshmen to Webster include California (8), Kansas (8), Tennessee (7), Kentucky (6), Iowa (5) and Indiana (5).

• Other states represented in this year's freshman class include Oregon, Alabama, Connecticut, Maine, Virginia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, Arizona, Maryland, Idaho and Nevada.

• The top high school sending students to Webster University is Mehlville High School in south St. Louis County, with 13.

• Freshman enrollments from our two "next-door" schools are Webster Groves High School (8) and Nerinx Hall (4).

• The No. 1-ranked high school tennis player in Tempe, Ariz., who also ranked first academically in her high school class of 586 students, chose Webster over Northwestern University and Brown University.

• The valedictorian from Virginia High School in Illinois chose Webster over the University of Chicago.

• A student from Nashville, Tenn., chose Webster over Georgetown University.

• A student from Nerinx Hall High School in Webster Groves won Second Place in the National Shakespeare Competition in New York.

• The two most popular declared majors of this year's freshmen class are Biology (33) and Audio Production (29).

With its home campus in St. Louis, Webster University is the only Tier 1, private, non-profit U.S.-based university providing a network of international residential campuses. Founded in 1915, Webster University’s campus network today includes metropolitan, military and corporate locations around the world, as well as traditional residential campuses in Asia, Europe and North America. The university is committed to delivering high-quality learning experiences that transform students for global citizenship and individual excellence.

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