Indiana University freshmen set record GPA, test scores

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) – Data from Indiana University’s enrollment office show that this year’s freshman class might not be the largest, but they could be the smartest.

IU’s Office of Enrollment Management says the class of 2020 is expected to exceed last year’s record-setting averages for grade-point averages and SAT scores, The Herald-Times reported.

Last year’s freshman class had a median high school GPA of 3.76 and an average SAT score of 1,218. This year’s freshmen have a median GPA of 3.76 and an average SAT score of 1,223.

Some students take the ACT instead of the SAT, but the university uses a conversion scale to translate those scores.

“It’s an easy way for us to be able to report one figure,” said David Johnson, vice provost for the enrollment management office.

The office is expecting 7,675 freshmen on the Bloomington campus this fall. At this time last year, 7,475 were enrolled.

Seventy percent of this year’s class will come to campus having already earned college credit through courses they took in high school. Almost 9 percent of freshmen will have at least 30 credit hours – enough to be considered a sophomore.

Students from Indiana are expected to make up more than half of this year’s freshmen class. The more than 4,300 Indiana residents come from all of the state’s 92 counties except for Switzerland County at the southeastern edge of the state.

About a third of the incoming freshmen class comes from states other than Indiana. All but eight states – West Virginia, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, Oregon and Alaska – are represented in this year’s class.

Nearly 10 percent come from 36 countries outside the United States.

Updated figured for the freshman class will be calculated Aug. 29, a week after the first day of classes, to account for any enrollment changes.