UA Ranks Among Best in Enrollment of National Merit Scholars

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – In keeping with its strong record of attracting some of the nation’s most outstanding students, The University of Alabama ranks 12th among public universities in the enrollment of National Merit Scholars for 2007-2008 and 30th among all universities.

The rankings, based on the National Merit Scholarship Corp.’s newly-released 2006-2007 annual report, place UA among the top 10 percent of colleges and universities that enrolled National Merit Scholars. In fall 2007, UA enrolled more of these outstanding students than such flagship institutions as the Universities of Michigan, Virginia, Georgia and California-Berkeley.

UA leads the state of Alabama in enrollment of National Merit Scholars by a wide margin. UA’s fall 2007 freshman class includes 73 National Merit Scholars, more than half of the 131 National Merit Scholars who enrolled at all Alabama colleges and universities combined.

UA is also a leader in the enrollment of National Achievement Scholars, a recognition awarded to top African-American students, ranking 4th among public universities and 18th among all universities.

“These nationally recognized students are among the best and brightest in an extremely talented freshman class,” said UA President Robert E. Witt. “A full third of our freshman class graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school class, and 929 of them had high school grade point averages of 4.0 or higher. As a group, they average in the top 20 percent nationally on the ACT.

“We continue to grow with quality,” Witt said. UA enrolled a record freshman class of 4,538 students in fall 2007. Total enrollment reached a record high of 25,580.

More than 250 National Merit Scholars are currently enrolled at UA from freshman to senior levels. UA’s freshman class includes 42 National Merit Scholars from Alabama. Others hail from Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and as far as California.