Emory's Office of Undergraduate Admission released the admissions profiles for the Emory Class of 2017 last month.
According to the office's website, the school received a record 17,705 applicants and admitted 26.5 percent, ultimately enrolling a class of 1,354, a yield of 28.9 percent.
The students of the Class of 2017 had a GPA range of 3.73 and 3.98 for the 25-75 percentile and a composite SAT score of 2000 and 2230.
John Latting, assistant vice provost for Undergraduate Enrollment and dean of admission, transferred to Emory from the undergraduate admissions office of Johns Hopkins University in fall of 2011 with a new vision for what Emory's application review process should look like.
Since 2010, before Latting came to Emory, the SAT scores of admitted students increased by five percent in the verbal section and by six percent in the writing section. The math scores had an increase of 1 percent.
Accepted students' average GPA has not changed since 2010, with 67 percent of total applicants having a 3.8 or higher.
Latting said that while average test scores are a good measure of assessing the class as a whole, at the individual level the office looks for a broader set of characteristics.
"[Numbers] kind of put you on the map when families start looking at colleges, but that's different from saying Emory should configure the whole process simply to optimizing where we end up on the ranking," Latting said. "There are other ways to measure quality."
The best admissions decision is a result of specific thought to the individual student instead of an emphasis on numbers, he said.
According to Latting, the admissions office is changing the way in which it reaches out to potential students on a national level. A new communications sector of the office will focus on expanding Emory's electronic communication.
Latting also said that the admissions websites for Emory College and Oxford College used to be separate and are now unified.
"We're Emory University to the world and all of the University needs to work together to tell our story," he said.
According to Latting, the office is enacting new efforts to increase the diversity of Emory students. Latting specifically cited the increase in black student enrollment, which has increased from nine percent to 11 percent since 2010.
He also added that there has been a steady decline of students from the Southeast of the United States (from 36 to 30 percent since 2010), which he attributed to Emory's increased appeal in other parts of the country.
Sixteen percent of the new class is made up of international students from 32 nations. Latting said that he would like to increase international representation from as many countries as possible.
Additionally, the office no longer takes into consideration demonstrate interest, or whether a student has expressed that they are likely to attend Emory if accepted.
"We want to go after the very, very best students and convince them that Emory is the best choice," Latting said. "You can't over-constrain the process."
Latting explained admissions criteria focus on students that have a motivation to learn and an interest in acquiring a quality education.
"The best class is one that has been shaped, it's been designed – the class has an identity as a whole," Latting said. "It's relying on the good judgment of people and not being overly driven on numbers."
In the future, Latting said that he hopes to expand Emory's appeal among prospective high school students.
"More of the kids graduating high school around the country need to be thinking Emory," he concluded.
–By Rupsha Basu
Graphic by Jordan Friedman
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