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Selectivity Increases With a Record Number
of Undergraduate Applications to SPU
IT’S BECOMING MORE DIFFICULT to get
into Seattle Pacific University. A record number of applications
and a capacity enrollment at SPU have meant increased competition
for admission.
“Very well-qualified students are applying to SPU
in record numbers, giving us greater opportunity to select
the strongest applicants and those students who will benefit
most from a Seattle Pacific education,” explains Marj
Johnson, vice president for administration and university
relations.
The number of freshman applicants to Seattle Pacific increased
by 112 this year to 1,921. The University’s admit rate,
an important measure of student demand and institutional success,
improved by eight percentage points in one year to 85 percent.
The academic credentials of incoming students also improved,
with the average GPA of incoming freshmen at 3.65, up from
3.59 last year, and the average SAT score of incoming freshmen
at 1,162, up from 1,141 last year.
Even while it continued to dramatically increase selectivity,
SPU experienced overall enrollment growth this fall. “We
admitted the number of students who, based on previous years’
experience, would yield our target enrollment goal,”
explains Director of Undergraduate Admissions Jennifer Kenney.
“What was different is that a greater percentage of
those students chose to enroll.”
The result is that Seattle Pacific welcomed the largest,
as well as the most highly qualified, new student class in
the institution’s history. The class contributed to
a record-setting enrollment of 3,873 students, including 3,086
undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students, and 787 graduate
students.
Johnson notes that the strength of Seattle Pacific’s
application pool, and the increased selectivity, demonstrate
that the University is laying the groundwork for long-term
goals. “We are recruiting and attracting students best
qualified to fulfill our vision,” she says, “and
we are building a campus and community life that equips these
students to engage the culture and change the world.”
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