404 new students are calling Cornell College home this school year, making it the largest group of new students in 18 years.
“At a time when there’s so much instability with college enrollment, we are absolutely thrilled to see such a large body of students joining us here at Cornell,” said Director of Admission Drew Shradel in a release. “Cornell has a lot to offer with our One Course At A Time calendar and Ingenuity curriculum. These students recognized the benefits of our flexible and immersive style of learning, not only during a pandemic but in regular times.”
Cornell’s ‘One Course At A Time’ program calendar is an effort help students adapt to the college environment and develop skills to prepare for the workforce through student success teams, block plans with built-in days off from class, and more.
This year’s new students come from 36 states and 12 countries (including the U.S.). Iowans represent the largest percentage of new students with 110 first-year students and 11 transfer students from Iowa, which is a 50% increase over last year. Cornell College’s enrollment is up 30% from the 2020 class.
Even though the number of new students increased dramatically, it is not a sign of lowered academic standards from the Mount Vernon-based liberal arts college, says Vice President of Enrollment Management Wendy Beckemeyer.
“When we look at the quality of students coming in, this is a big year,” said Beckemeyer. “It would be easy for someone to say we just reduced our quality measurements. But we didn’t. This class has a high-performing GPA, excellent test scores, increased diversity, and we’ve extended our geographic reach. This class will contribute greatly to our already outstanding student body.”
The rise in student enrollment mirrors the trend from Coe College, a university also experiencing a large population of new students.
Cornell College offers several scholarships for its students including the Iowa Promise Scholarship and the Freeway Scholarship.
