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28 August 2006 Longwood welcomes Class of 2010:
Longwood University began the fall semester Monday, Aug. 28, with the highest number of new students in its history. New student enrollment is expected to include 985 freshmen and 205 transfer students for a projected 1,190 new students. Last fall Longwood enrolled some 1,172 new students (958 freshmen and 214 transfer students). Longwood’s total enrollment also is expected to be the highest ever, about 4,400 as compared to last year’s 4,374. This figure includes off-campus, graduate and online students. In addition, undergraduate degree-seeking students will total the most ever, about 3,700 students. The new students were selected from Longwood’s largest applicant pool ever, said Bob Chonko, dean of enrollment management. “We received a 14 percent increase; 500 more applications (than last year) from freshmen, crossing the 4,000 mark in freshman applications. We had one of the highest increases in applications in the state. I attribute the increase to the growing recognition of our academic programs, our quality academic facilities and our top-notch instruction.” Some 70 percent of the transfer students are transferring from the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), up from 64 percent last fall. Some 38 percent of last year’s transfers came in under the updated articulation agreements that Longwood recently signed with all 23 VCCS schools; that number this year is up to 43 percent. Under the agreements, Longwood guarantees admission to community college graduates who earn the Associate of Arts/Science degree with at least a 2.5 GPA. Longwood opens the academic year with a new minor in Homeland Security and two new program options in Communication Studies: concentrations in Mass Media or Organizational and Strategic Communication. Ground will be broken late this fall for a new building housing the Department of Communication Studies and Theatre, near Bedford and Wygal halls. Some 408 Longwood students will be living in the new Longwood Landings at Midtown Square, on the site of the former Farmville Shopping Center. Another 253 will be housed in Lancer Village (the former Stanley Park), purchased by the Longwood Real Estate Foundation last October. Though Longwood students have leased units at Lancer Village since 1999, this will be the first year that Longwood has managed the entire complex beginning in the fall. Recreational fields will be built there, and eventually it will be used for most outdoor intramural sports. For the ninth straight year, Longwood is ranked among the best in the U.S.News & World Report “America’s Best Colleges.” The 2007 report, released Aug. 18, ranks Longwood at the #11 position in the category Top Public Universities – Master’s in the South. Among all Southern Universities – Master’s (public and private), Longwood moved up within the “top tier” to position #33 from #36 last year. Additionally, Longwood is one of only 146 schools in the Southeast listed as a “Best Southeastern College” in the 2007 Princeton Review. Student opinion data from a total of 656 schools is featured on the Best Colleges: Region by Region section of PrincetonReview.com (www.princetonreview.com/college/research/regional). |
