Freshmen arrive with record-breaking selectivity, diversity, international backgrounds; two have performed at Carnegie Hall

August 23, 2012

When University of Richmond’s freshman class arrived for orientation Aug. 22, the 780 students were the most selective, diverse and international group in the university’s history.

Richmond recorded another record-breaking year of admission applications, which increased 9 percent over 2011, to 10,232.

The incoming class also set records for diversity and international enrollment. One out of four is a student of color. International students make up 10 percent of the incoming class, hailing from 37 countries, including Egypt and Lithuania.

Richmond continues to attract students from the South and mid-Atlantic — those two regions make up 63 percent of the class. Fourteen percent of freshmen hail from Virginia, the largest state represented. Overall, the class boasts members from 42 states.

Around 59 percent of incoming students will receive financial aid in the form of grants, scholarships and loans. The total amount of direct aid the university will provide to first-year students is almost $15 million. Standardized test scores for the class remain about the same as previous years. The overall middle 50 percent of SAT scores ranged from 1820-2078.

Standout members of the class include a national physics competition champion, two who have performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall, two who have started their own businesses, a Gates Millennium Scholar and a national chess champion. Some 250 captained an athletic team in high school. Fifty were student government or class presidents, and 34 held the editor’s pen of their high school newspaper or magazine.