Elon's rank on US News' list?

hudsonvalley51
Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:52:12 +0000

“That looks like it is either old data, or data from applications. Here is the data on the Freshman class.”

Speaking of data…and let me preface this by affirming my belief that Elon is a great school and is getting better by the year. I was a little astonished, however, to read on more than one occasion that Elon boasted an average GPA among admitted students of over 3.75. As a matter of fact they state on their UCAN entry that the average GPA for incoming freshmen is 3.95! Really!!! That puts Elon is rarified air. By comparison, here are the average GPA’s for some fairly good competitors:

Bard College 3.5
Colgate University 3.6
NYU 3.6
Mount Holyoke 3.66
University of Rochester 3.7
Vassar College 3.75
Wesleyan University 3.77
Penn 3.83
Smith College 3.89

Elon the Harvard University of the South? Who knew!

The only problem I have with inflated claims like this is that it can – even if only in isolated incidences – drive away less than perfect students who might be a great match for the school and vice versa. The son of an acquaintence actually had decided not to apply to Elon at the last minute because he thought his 3.69 GPA just wasn’t competitive. Fortunately, he looked a little deeper, applied and was accepted. Chances are good he’ll be at Elon later this year.