Class of 2015 Freshman Profile

If you’re part of the Class of 2015, you’re in rare company! You and your 2,361 classmates possess an extremely broad range of interests and talents.

Your peers are from as close as a few blocks away and as far as Australia. They graduated from high schools in California, Texas, Minnesota and Vermont, as well as Colombia, Hong Kong, Bulgaria, England, the Bahamas and the Netherlands.

And, many in your class have a connection with the College – 171 have siblings that attended or are still students at the College. There are 135 parents who are alumni and 22 students have grandparents that graduated from the College of Charleston.

“We are very excited to welcome our newest class to the College,” says Jimmie Foster, Jr., director of freshman admissions. “They come from all over the state and every corner of the country. Their long list of impressive experiences and academic accomplishments will no doubt make a substantial impact on the school and the region for years to come.”

Class of 2015: By the Numbers

Class of 2015: A Closer Look

Class of 2015: Academic Profile

Honors College: Class of 2015 Academic Profile

Honors College: William Aiken Fellows Profile

Class of 2015: Beloit Mindset

Class of 2015: Spotlight

Class of 2015: By the Numbers

2,361 | | Number of freshmen
42 | | Number of states represented in addition to the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands
13 | | Number of countries represented
16 | | Youngest member of the Class of 2015
38 | | Oldest member of the Class of 2015
16 | | Number of students born on March 31, 1993
141 | | Number of students from one state other than S.C. (N.C.)
9,507 | | Number of miles traveled to the College of Charleston by the student who lives farthest away (from Sydney, Australia).
55 | | Number of student-athletes on scholarships
35 | | Highest ACT score
1,520 | | Highest SAT score (on a 1600 scale)
5.654 | | Highest GPA
978 | | Number of transfers and readmitted students
1,615 | | Number of different high schools attended

Class of 2015: A Closer Look

Most common female students’ name: Emily, Sarah, Katherine.

Most common male students’ name: William, Robert, Matthew, Andrew.

Top names that males and females share: Jordan, Logan, and Cameron.

Most popular birth month: March

Largest South Carolina feeder high schools: Wando High School (65), Lexington High School (24), Fort Mill High School (24), Bishop England High School (23), West Florence High School (21), Stratford High School (20).

Largest out of state feeder high schools: Myers Park High School, N.C. (10), Ramapo High School, N.J. (10), Charlotte Country Day School, N.C. (8), New Canaan High School, C.T. (7).

Most popular South Carolina hometowns: Columbia, Mt. Pleasant, Charleston, Greenville, Myrtle Beach.

Most popular out of state hometowns: Charlotte, N.C., Atlanta, G.A., Alpharetta, G.A., Wilmington, N.C.

Students are coming from the following countries: Nigeria, France, Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, Germany, Spain, China, Japan, Australia, Venezuela.

The Class of 2015 includes:

Four sets of twins.

A black tag in Tae-Kwan-do.

A student who built a 20-foot-tall trebuchet (catapult) for his European history class.

Two students who are triplets (but not related).

A State Department intern.

A Horton Scholarship winner who traveled in France with Travel for Teens.

A volunteer with the South Carolina Turtle Rescue Team (despite living in Illinois).

A third-generation College of Charleston student.

A student who has moved 24 times in 17 years, lived in eight states and attended three high schools.

An inventor who converted a lawnmower to burn hydrogen.

A former resident of Fiji.

A student fluent in Georgian and Russian.

An entrepreneur who started a recycling program to raise money for clean water in Mexico.

A member of the Army who served in Afghanistan.

A student who traveled to Kenya twice to build schoolhouses and teach children.

A student who spent a year after high school living in Germany through the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship Program.

A student who works with HARPS to rehabilitate abused horses.

The No. 1 S.C. candidate at The National Forensic League’s annual tournament.

Class of 2015: Academic Profile

The middle 50 percent of freshmen accepted for fall 2011:

Scored between 1060 and 1220 (in-state), and 1130 and 1270 (out-of-state) on the SAT.

Scored between 22 and 27 (in-state), and 25 and 29 (out-of-state) on the ACT.

Graduated in the top 20 percent of the class.

Had consistent academic achievement in the A/B range.

19 | | Number of valedictorians *
16 | | Number of salutatorians **
116 | | Number of Palmetto Fellows
9 | | National Merit Program Scholars

* The information above is preliminary. Official data will be available in October 2011.
** 26 of these Valedictorians and Salutatorians are from South Carolina; and one third are students of color.

Honors College: Class of 2015 Academic Profile

| 198 | | total number of freshman
| 1358 | | average SAT
| 30 | | average ACT
| 4.25 | | average weighted GPA
| 3.7 | | average unweighted GPA
| 94% | | average percent rank in class
| 93 | | number of in-state students
| 105 | | number of out-of-state students
| 24 | | percentage coming in with enough transfer credits to be a college sophomore
| 3,246 | | number of credits the class is coming in with

Honors College: Class of 2015 William Aiken Fellows

The William Aiken Fellows Society is a group of highly capable students who have the potential to successfully pursue national and international opportunities reserved for top scholars. Throughout their college careers, William Aiken Fellows work closely with the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards and participate in numerous programs designed to create leadership opportunities, enrich their academic experience and prepare them for graduate work and beyond.

Academic Profile

| 14 | | total number of students
| 1446 | | average SAT
| 34 | | average ACT
| 4.66 | | average weighted GPA
| 3.7 | | average unweighted GPA
| 98 | | average percent rank in class
| 4 | | average percent rank in class
| 10 | | number of out of state students

Class of 2015: Beloit Mindset

Each August for the past 14 years, Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college. See what Beloit says about the Class of 2015.

Class of 2015: Spotlight

Frank Benson

Frank Benson

An open-ended history assignment gave this future business major the opportunity to think big – REALLY big. And he probably shocked his teacher.

Instead of writing a paper or making a presentation, Frank Benson built a 21-foot, 750-pound working replica of the trebuchet, an ancient catapult-like weapon. Really. He says, “I had always been involved in building large-scale contraptions and inventions, so this assignment let me put my skills to the test and produce something radical.”

He didn’t use any plans because he wanted a higher-functioning trebuchet and he also set it on wheels. Spending hours balancing the counterweight and fulcrum weight, he says the project taught him a lot about the engineering and physics behind trebuchets.

Nora Grossman

Nora Grossman

This Kentucky freshman is part of a folk trio that has performed on TV, radio, a state rally, and even opened for a rock band (My Morning Jacket), in addition to producing a CD when she was just 15 years old.

Nora Grossman also did all this while never earning a grade less than an “A” in middle or high school. The trio formed when they graduated from an elementary school percussion band and named themselves “Nora, Ben & Eli” (which she admits is not very original).

She hopes to keep playing music at the College and says, “The opportunity to write and perform original music, and to work and learn from other musicians is one that I absolutely do not take for granted.”

Clerc Cooper

Clerc Cooper

Clerc Cooper is a two-time national Gulf Yachting Association 420 sailing champion – but that isn’t what she’s most well known for. Her freshman year of high school, Clerc (pronounced Claire) was sailing with two friends when they noticed a boat had capsized leaving three people stranded. Clerc threw her life jacket to one, and then jumped in to save the other two.

She received the Carnegie Hero Award, the U.S. Sailing Hanson Medal, and a commendation from the U.S. Coast Guard. She says, “I feel that anyone with the ability to help others should do so, and I knew that I would at least be able to decrease their danger. It took a while before I realized that not everyone would have jumped in the water, especially after having given up a life jacket.”

At the College of Charleston, Clerc hopes to sail on the internationally ranked varsity team as well as majoring in history and being a part of the Honors College’s prestigious William Aiken Fellows Society.