New Paltz opens door for 1,825 new students

NEW PALTZ — The SUNY New Paltz campus will come to life Wednesday, Aug. 20, when about 950 new first-year students move into their new homes in the residence halls. About 875 new transfer students will join them on campus later in the week.

This fall’s first-year students were selected from a pool of more than 11,000 applications and the transfer students came from a group of 3,000 applications. New Paltz received more applications than any of SUNY’s 12 other colleges.

While the number of new students remains about the same as last year (920 First-year, 650 transfers), the academic performance of those students has continued to increase. This year, 84 percent of New Paltz’s accepted freshmen came from the top two SUNY quality groups, up from 83 percent last year and 75 percent in 2001. First-year students from the top two groups have an average SAT score of 1170 and a high school average of 90.

“We are very pleased that besides breaking records in terms of number of applications, we are attracting students who have excellent academic records and a broad range of talents and interests as well,” said David Lavallee, provost and vice president for academic affairs at SUNY New Paltz.

With an acceptance rate of 39 percent, New Paltz remains one of the most selective universities in the Northeast and among the 5 percent of campuses across the country that accept less than half of their applicants. While entry to New Paltz is becoming significantly more difficult, the university is still attracting qualified students from all backgrounds — 24 percent of the incoming freshmen come from historically underrepresented groups.

Once the new students are settled in, they have five full days of activities planned before the start of classes on Monday, Aug. 25. Activities during Welcome Week include an opening night comedian act, karaoke, barbeque and dance party, trips to local shopping malls, movies and the popular lip-sync finals.

This year, SUNY New Paltz is commemorating its 175th anniversary as an institution of higher education, and when the students return they will have much to celebrate. Students will notice several changes across campus, including the newly refurbished Hasbrouck Dining Hall, and the renovated plaza deck and stairs on both the west and east sides of the Smiley Arts Building.

Also, this fall, students can expect the grand re-opening of the John R. Kirk Planetarium, located in the Coykendall Science Building. With the reconstruction now complete, the planetarium will have state-of-the-art equipment and new star shows, including seasonal themes, star evolution, eclipses, meteors, planets and children’s shows. In addition, construction continues on the new 57,000-square-foot Athletic and Wellness Center and Lenape Hall, a new 238-bed residence hall expected to be open for the Fall 2004 semester.

For more information about SUNY New Paltz or Welcome Week, visit www.newpaltz.edu/welcomeweek.

Note to editors: Media are invited to cover move-in day on Wednesday, Aug. 20. The majority of the activity occurs between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Contact Eric Gullickson at 257-3245 for details.