SUNY New Paltz brought in a record-breaking class of freshmen and transfers for the Fall 2017 semester. This historically large class, with the almost 1,150 freshmen and over 900 transfers it was brought in with, maintained highly selective admission standards.
Receiving over 16,600 applications, SUNY New Paltz was recently scored by Niche 18th out of 102 hardest New York schools to get into.
According to L. David Eaton, Vice President for Enrollment Management, SUNY New Paltz has worked to promote its reputation as “a warm, friendly, and accepting place” and its location in “an area of breathtaking beauty and outdoor recreational opportunities” in addition to its proximity to a college town.
Overall enrollment, however, has not grown due to a significant drop in graduate enrollment. The drop in graduate enrollment had to due primarily with a decrease in international students according to an article in The Oracle published on April 6.
According to a press release from the College, SUNY New Paltz’s four-year graduation rate is equal to the six-year graduation rate for other public colleges in New York and across the country.
This incoming class is also the most racially and ethnically diverse in the history of the College. About 36 percent of the combined class are of historically underrepresented groups with a significant increase in Black and Latino student body. Forty percent of the incoming freshmen class encompass these groups.
According to Eaton, this trend has continued for five consecutive years.
“This growth has made the campus environment more inclusive and thus more attractive to people from ethnically and racially diverse backgrounds,” she said. “Many are drawn to the College’s accepting atmosphere that allows our students to flourish in a welcoming, open environment.”
Eaton believes the incoming class of first-year and transfer students will have a powerful and positive impact on the campus community, describing them as diverse, determined and academically strong.
“They are here because they chose New Paltz among many other choices and so their expectations of what it will be like here are based on their perception that this is a great place to be,” she said. “And I believe this community will not disappoint them.”