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TEXAS A&M RANKS 10TH IN 2007 NATIONAL MERIT SCHOLAR ENROLLMENT
From Texas A&M News & Information website
Tuesday, January 23, 2008
Texas A&M University now ranks among the top 10 institutions in the country in enrollment of new National Merit Scholars and had the second-largest increase among all schools, according to figures in the newly released National Merit Scholarship Corp. annual report.
The report shows Texas A&M to have enrolled 173 freshmen last fall who earned National Merit Scholar status, indicative of being among the nation’s highest achieving students—representing a gain of 39 such top students compared to the previous year.
Only Northwestern University, with a 51-student increase, had a larger gain.
Texas A&M’s rise in the National Merit Scholars rankings is particularly gratifying, university officials note, with the institution having placed 16th in the overall rankings last year.
“We are delighted to have this large increase in the number of National Merit Scholars attending Texas A&M and are obviously pleased that we now rank in the top tier of institutions enrolling these high-achieving students. Attracting such top students is a key goal for us, just as is striving for a highly diverse student body in every sense,” President Elsa Murano said. “I congratulate these students for their accomplishments and thank them for choosing to pursue their higher education careers at Texas A&M, and I congratulate all of our faculty and staff who had a role in helping attract them to our university. Also, I extend special thanks to The Association of Former Students for its vital support in this endeavor.”
Harvard maintained its traditional standing as the leader in enrollment of National Merit Scholars, with 285. Others in the top 10 are the University of Texas at Austin (283), Northwestern (249), University of Southern California (231), Washington University in St. Louis (204), University of Chicago (196), Yale (183), Princeton (179) and the University of Oklahoma (175).
Ed Funkhouser, executive director of Texas A&M’s Honors Programs, said the large gain in number of new National Merit Scholars this year “is the result of a team effort.” He specifically cited recruitment activities such as the Summer Honors Invitational Program (SHIP), which is supported in part by The Association of Former Students; the “tireless efforts” of staff in Honors Programs, and the “synergistic efforts of colleagues across campus who were able to demonstrate to these high-achieving students the quality of the opportunities that Texas A&M has to offer.”
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