University Letter

UND's faculty and staff newsletter

UND expects its most academically qualified first-year class this fall

Photo by Shawna Noel Schill
Photo by Shawna Noel Schill

For the fourth consecutive fall the University of North Dakota expects its incoming first-year class to be the most academically qualified in UND’s history, based on average high school GPA (grade point average) and ACT scores.

With a projected average high school GPA of 3.45 and average ACT score of 24.1, this year’s freshman class should exceed last fall’s, which touted a then-record 3.42 GPA and 24.0 ACT average.  This compares to a 3.33 GPA and 23.5 ACT average only four years ago with the fall 2012 entering class.  This will be the fourth consecutive year with an increase in freshman average GPA and fifth consecutive year with an increase in average ACT.

“I am pleased that every year we attract an increasingly better-prepared freshman class, as the upswing in overall GPA and ACT scores suggest,” said President Mark Kennedy.  “Recruiting top-notch students helps us continue to be the premier flagship university in the Northern Plains.”

Kennedy noted that recruiting increasingly better-prepared new students will help UND meet expectations for increasing retention and graduation rates.

Although enrollment numbers won’t be finalized until later in September, UND is projecting about 1,900-1,950 new first-year students this fall, consistent with the past few years (1,900 last year, 1,906 in 2014, and 1,908 in 2013), many of whom will be involved with the Welcome Weekend activities beginning Saturday.  Students continue to register for fall semester classes at UND, so official enrollment numbers won’t be released until the fourth week of the semester.