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PROVO, Utah — More than 1 in 5 freshmen on BYU's campus this fall had perfect GPAs in high school. Nearly 1 in 6 ranked first in their graduating class.
A profile of BYU's 2016 freshman class released by the school recently revealed a lot about the 7,171 new students who began classes on Aug. 29.
First, there is plenty of competition. A total of 13,408 high school seniors applied for admission in this class, which means 53.5 percent were admitted and enrolled.
Next, this group really wanted to be at BYU. Like two racehorses running nose to nose, Harvard and BYU have ranked first or second in the nation out of 265 national, research-oriented colleges and universities for highest yield — the percentage of accepted students who enrolled.
In January, U.S. News & World Report released its 2016 yield rate rankings. Harvard was first — 81 percent of those who applied and were admitted chose to enroll. BYU was second at 78 percent, just ahead of Stanford. BYU ranked No. 1 in 2008, 2010-11 and 2013.
BYU's incoming freshmen knew the university would conduct a holistic review of each application, and they responded accordingly.
Academic achievement is a major factor. The average composite ACT scores of this year's freshmen is 29.2 — 54 students earned a perfect score — and more than 50 percent of the class scored higher than 30, up from 36 percent in 2007. The average SAT score for this year's class is 1280. The average high school GPA is 3.85.
But other BYU admission factors include extracurricular activities, leadership and other talents.
Nearly 97 percent graduated from four years of seminary education provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns and operates BYU.
Over 80 percent worked during high school, and a similar number were involved in performing arts. Another 70 percent played high school sports.
Finally, while BYU students come from 110 countries and all 50 U.S. states, the percentage from Utah has been growing steadily. In 1998, 23 percent of freshmen were from Utah. That number increased to 32 percent in 2010 and 35 percent last year.
