Although they have yet to take their first exam, the 377 men and women in the class of 2020 are already testing well.
According to preliminary data from the Hillsdale College admissions department, the incoming freshman class is the highest scoring to date. It enters with a 30.13 average on the ACT, surpassing the class of 2015’s 29.32 benchmark.
“Breaking a 30 is a pretty big deal in our office,” said Zachary Miller, senior director of admissions. “We are really proud of the fact that we did it without compromising fit. It’s important that we find the best students who are going to be great additions here, retain them, and that they keep coming back each year and graduating. We didn’t have to sacrifice one thing to reach that number.”
Miller said he takes pride in this year’s incoming freshman class, and the numbers show why. The class broke the 3.81 average high school GPA of incoming classes for the past four years, arriving with a 3.84 mean. Hillsdale also received more than 2,100 applications this year, the largest pool since 2011.
According to admissions office data, Hillsdale admitted 873 of those students, marking an acceptance rate of 42 percent. That’s the lowest admissions rate Hillsdale has had in more than 10 years. With such a record-breaking ACT score this year, it was a tough decision to decide which prospective students would join the freshman class.
“I’d attribute this 30 to the fact that we have a larger pool of highly qualified candidates,” said Doug Bradbury, vice president of admissions. “The hardest thing we did this year was tell some really good prospective students ‘no.’ So it’s a good thing and a hard thing.”
Andrew Rademacher made the cut. The 18-year-old freshman from Cincinnati, Ohio, scored a 32 on his ACT and had tempting offers from other schools, including DePaul, Ohio State, and Xavier universities. During his visit to Hillsdale as a prospective student, however, he knew it was exactly where he wanted to be, Rademacher said.
“The close community really stood out to me,” he said. “Especially the science departments, when I visited, I got to meet with the professors and even was able to participate and sit in on some classes and labs. It’s what I was looking for.”
Although more than 32 percent of the incoming freshman class is from Michigan, Rademacher represents one of more than 40 states that sent students to Hillsdale. The school also attracted six students from foreign countries.
To reach these prospective students from all over the map, Miller said the admissions department poured more resources and training into recruitment in hopes of delivering Hillsdale’s message farther.
“We’ve done a lot more mentoring and teaching with our counselors to show them how to recruit well,” Miller said. “We’ve also expanded our counseling staff in the past three years, which allows us to go out and meet students in their own backyards. It’s a boots-on-the-ground strategy. They’re hearing from us, and we’re responding to their questions.”
The admissions department has helped guide the new freshmen to Hillsdale, and now they’re ready to “rejoice in the challenge.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting tons of new people,” Rademacher said. “And to be honest, I’m not really nervous. It’s time to get to work.”