SBU raises academic profile, enrollment
BOLIVAR—Southwest Baptist University (SBU) raised its academic profile along with an increase in enrollment this fall, a combination of facts and figures that is “difficult to achieve,” said Stephanie Miller, vice president for enrollment management at SBU.
According to Director of Admissions Darren Crowder, the University raised its average first-time freshmen in ACT from 22.9 to 23.0, in SAT from 986 to 1040, and in high school GPA from 3.44 to 3.48. Crowder noted that the average transfer student’s college GPA went from 2.87 to 2.97.
“To increase our incoming class by over 5 percent (the freshmen class saw an increase of over 10 percent) and just maintain our profile would be great,” Crowder said. “We not only maintained, but we saw an increase.”
C. Pat Taylor, SBU president, recently announced the following to the university community: “We have increases from last fall on the Bolivar campus and in all of our off-campus programs including dual credit. The total headcount for all undergraduate programs is 2,803, an increase of 51 from last year.
“On the Bolivar campus, enrollment increased by 17; however, we are up 36 in full-time students which is a 2.4 percent increase. The other important statistic on the Bolivar campus is the increase in the number of freshmen. We have 453 new freshmen which is our second largest freshmen class. We have 1,055 students living in campus housing, which is the largest number we have had living on campus. Enrollment also has increased by 8.4 percent on the Mountain View campus.
“Enrollment has significantly increased (53.7 percent) in the MBA program. Physical therapy continues to be near capacity. We will continue to enroll students in the graduate education programs until October. At this time the graduate education enrollment looks good and we should have more students than we had last year.
“We are blessed with a very good enrollment this fall. When the graduate education enrollment is completed, we should have a headcount of more than 3,600 students.”