The Observer, September 2, 2005
Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1
Largest freshman class ever arrives
As the fall semester starts off this week, students will be seeing several changes to the once familiar campus. Along with the construction of the Village at 115 and "Binary Code" walkway, Case has recently welcomed a new freshman class.
Another significant change will be noticeable. This year all the upperclassmen housing has been relocated from Southside to Northside. This adjustment has placed juniors and seniors at the new Village at 115 and sophomores both at the new village and dorms such as Clarke Tower, Cutler House, and Storrs House.
In addition to the larger population on Northside, the size of the Class of 2009 has risen by nearly 300 students from the previous year's incoming class. Case received 7,173 applications for this year's incoming class. From this pool of applicants, 4,884 were admitted. Of those students admitted, 1150 enrolled.
Despite the anticipated difficulties due to housing, dining, and scheduling, students are pleased to see more students at Case. "It was refreshing to see the new faces of the countless people roaming Case's streets," Ish Prasad Bhalla said.
Reports place 63 percent of the freshman class in the top 10 percent of their high school class, 22 percent in the second tier, and 5.9 percent in the third tier. About 34 percent of the students did not report their ranking.
Also, the middle 50th percentile achieved SAT verbal and math scores ranging from 600 to 700 and 640 to 720 respectively. The middle 50th percentile of ACT scores ranged from 26 to 32.
As in previous years, the number of arts and sciences and engineering majors is relatively high. Twenty-seven percent of students are majoring in the arts and sciences, and 38.5 percent are majoring in engineering. Six percent of students are majoring in management, while 4.7 percent are nursing majors. The remaining 23.3 percent are undecided.
Financially, Case awarded more than $17 million to the incoming freshmen. This sum of money was distributed among 93 percent of the class. The average award was $25,426 with an average family income of need-based aid applicants of $98,500.
The class of 2009 is 39 percent female and 61 percent male, yielding a 1-1.5 female to male ratio. This ratio is nearly identical to last year's. In the overall pool of students, the top three ethnicities are Caucasian, Asian, and African American, with 72 percent, 15 percent, and 5 percent, respectively.
Geographical diversity is apparent in the freshman class, with nearly all fifty states represented. As usual, the majority of students come from Ohio, which has delivered 586 students. Pennsylvania follows with 117 students; then New York with 80 students. In addition to those students from the United States, the following foreign countries are also represented: Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.
However, due to the size of the incoming class, not all the freshman will be living on Northside. About 300 students have been placed on Southside due to limited room availability. The freshmen on Southside will reside in the Alumni, Staley, and Howe Houses.
With the size of the entering class, some freshman are experiencing difficulties concerning scheduling and dining. "I personally had no problems when I scheduled for classes, but many of my friends experienced frustration. Dining is okay, but something should really be done to minimize the crowds; they're quite an inconvenience," freshman Absera Melaku said.
Sophomore George Mihas expressed his thoughts about the Fribley dining area. "Dining on Southside is restricted since only certain people can eat at Fribley during lunch time," Mihas said, "This poses a problem for my friends and me when we are at the quad and plan to eat lunch at the cafeteria."
It is believed that next year's incoming class may bring about the same number of people as the Class of 2009. For that reason, preparations are being made for increased accommodations next year.
