We received the University’s census data for this academic year in early September, and I would like to share several items deserving special mention.
Purdue Polytechnic has set an all-time record for total enrollment (4,377) at our West Lafayette (WL) location, breaking the record from 2006. When factoring in our other locations around Indiana, which also grew enrollment from last year, our total enrollment has reached 5,505. To put this into perspective, the University’s WL enrollment has increased by 5.3% in the last four years, while ours has increased by 20%.
While setting a total enrollment record, we also achieved a major milestone in graduate enrollment — we now have 150 Ph.D. students. In fact, our graduate enrollment grew by nearly 13% just this past year, which is not the trend across campus. Kathy Newton, associate dean for graduate programs, and all graduate faculty who have strengthened our programs and attracted new graduate students deserve special recognition for this.
There is more good news. Not only did we have a record-setting 822 new beginners at WL, the academic profile for those students is the highest ever based on average ACT (26.9) and GPA (3.65).
And if that was not enough, one-year retention of our fall 2016 cohort was 91.6%, the second-highest one-year retention rate ever for our college.
Finally, our underrepresented minority (URM) and overall diversity enrollment continues to be well above the University average, and we reached our highest numbers of female new-beginners (138), female undergraduate enrollment (676), and female graduate enrollment (252).
I believe there are opportunities for us to do even better, such as in our undergraduate female enrollment, URM enrollment, and graduation rates, though all of these improved again this year. You may hear soon about new initiatives to make further progress in these areas.
For now, let’s celebrate these successes. Thanks to everyone — leadership team, faculty, staff, and campus partners — for your efforts. Boiler Up!
