September 26, 2006 —
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2006 Freshman Class (Click the photo to view an enlargement)
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Freshmen enrolling in the USC Viterbi School for the fall, 2006 semester show a 30-point gain on SAT scores over last year, making it the best of any class in Viterbi history.
"We have just enrolled what is statistically by far the brightest freshman class in our history," said Yannis Yortsos, dean of the Viterbi School. “Our middle 50% of SAT scores ranged from 1350 to 1480 and that represents a whopping 30 points increase over last year’s range of 1320 to 1450!”
Yortsos said this means that 75% of this year's freshman class have combined scores higher than 1350 and 25% of the class scores higher than 1480. If past year's SAT statistics in other engineering schools held constant this year, the Viterbi gains would translate in the entering freshman class ranked number 16 in the nation among all universities, including undergraduate-only institutions.
Louise A. Yates, the Viterbi School’s associate dean for admissions and student affairs explained “there is a new scoring system for SATs this year, so these numbers have been normalized for the old system. Our range on the new 2400 point scale was 2000-2190 ”
The increase comes in a year when national SAT scores have dropped. The Viterbi School continues to attract the best and brightest new engineering students, even as competition for those students heats up nation-wide.
“Not only do we have an extraordinary freshman class, but we have also been able to increase diversity with an increase in the number of women and underrepresented minority students,” said Yates.
“These are very bright and creative students,” Yortsos added. “We relish the opportunity to engage and teach them.”
