<p>Let’s Hear it for the Class of 2017
Newly formed class is strongest in Northwestern’s history and sets diversity record
May 14, 2013 | by Pat Vaughan Tremmel
<a href=“http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2013/05/lets-hear-it-for-the-class-of-2017.html[/url]”>Let's Hear it for the Class of 2017 - Northwestern Now;
<p>EVANSTON, Ill. — The deposits are in, the commitments have been made and Northwestern University’s newly formed Class of 2017 set new records both for its academic strength and its racial and ethnic diversity.</p>
<p>The approximately 2,025 students expected to make up the Class of 2017 when school begins in the fall made the final cut after the University sorted through a record high number of applications, 32,772. This resulted in the lowest admit rate ever – 13.9 percent.</p>
<p>By standard academic measures, the Class of 2017 is the strongest in Northwestern’s history. </p>
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<p>And in one of the most important measures of the University’s rising reputation, the yield rate, or proportion of admitted students choosing Northwestern, rose to 45.3 percent from 41.5 percent last year. The yield was less than 31 percent only five years ago. </p>
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<p>“It’s not unusual here, for example, for a student with exemplary math skills to play an instrument exquisitely or to act in high-level performances or produce documentaries on the issues of the day,” he said.</p>
<p>Sixty-five percent of Northwestern students graduate with more than one major – with a double major or a major, minor and a certificate or various other combinations of studies – sometimes in completely different fields.</p>
<p>Applied learning is a hallmark of a Northwestern education, and a majority of students are engaged in outside opportunities that enhance the classroom experience, including internships, co-ops, research abroad and civic engagement.</p>
<p>Northwestern students, as well as their professors, are winning major research prizes. The research opportunities are plentiful, whether students work with a professor in a science lab on campus or in countries all over the globe. Students combine studies to conduct serious research in the natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, journalism, the arts, humanities and performance.</p>
<p>For the eighth year in a row, Northwestern is among the top 10 producers of U.S. Fulbright grant recipients at the nation’s research institutions, according to a ranking published Oct. 24, 2012, in The Chronicle of Higher Education.</p>
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<p>And Northwestern graduates work at the highest echelons of business and technology; produce, direct, write and perform for film and on major stages; use their journalistic skills to produce the most important stories of our day; break Olympic records for their extraordinary athletic skills; and provide political and humanitarian leadership throughout the world.</p>