May 3, 2023

Dear Colleagues,

As our University follows a path toward long-term financial health and institutional excellence across all our core endeavors, we are happy to report encouraging enrollment news: Based on early deposits following Monday’s May 1 National College Decision Day, Drexel is on track both to enroll a progressively more diverse and academically accomplished class and to meet our enrollment target for the incoming Fall 2023 class.

Considering the struggles of most four-year private universities to meet their enrollment and net tuition goals in a volatile enrollment environment, we are proud to have received 3,213 deposits as of this morning. Conservatively estimating the summer melt, we confidently project that we will meet our enrollment target of 2,825 students, which includes 25 students for our newly offered B.A. degree in Law.

We are especially proud of the strong academic and demographic profile of this incoming class, which validates our strategy to recruit higher-achieving students and applicants from more diverse populations. The SAT scores submitted by this year’s incoming class carry a median of 1350 — ten points higher compared with last year’s entering class of 2022 — while the average GPA of 3.85 is slightly higher than last year. As importantly, our student body will grow more diverse across all crucial categories. The number of first-generation college students will rise from 28.5% to 31.4%; the number of underrepresented students of color who identify as Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx, Native American and Alaskan Native will rise from 17.7% to 20.3%, while students of color overall are projected to account for 50% of the incoming class; and international students will comprise 11.6% of the currently confirmed class, representing 71 countries, up from 65 countries last year.

Combined with ongoing efforts to make academic support services and resources more effective and more easily accessible, our focus on recruiting and yielding an academically accomplished class should put our retention rates for first-year students back on their upward trajectory toward the 90% threshold.

Recruiting and yielding a diverse class of this size and academic caliber is a testament to the tremendous work by the entire (and superb) Enrollment Management team, to the deans and faculty of our colleges and schools, and to all professional staff who played a part both in keeping all prospective students engaged with Drexel, and in making all admitted students and their families feeling welcome and excited about choosing Drexel.

We take nothing for granted. We recognize the critical importance of keeping every student who has made a deposit excited about coming to Drexel. Our entire Enrollment Management and Student Success team will go all out to keep those students not only fully engaged and informed throughout the summer about life at Drexel, but also well prepared to excel and flourish after they arrive here.

In the meantime, we want to thank you for all your hard work and dedication. During a challenging time for higher education, you have continued to make Drexel an ever more amazing and appealing place for current and future Dragons. We look forward to welcoming the incoming class of 2023 this fall.

Sincerely,

John Fry
President

Evelyn Thimba
Senior Vice President of Enrollment Management