On August 22nd, more than 1,000 freshmen students were safely nestled in their lofts, for a quiet evening on Creighton University’s campus. Well, maybe that’s not exactly how it went, but at least their parents like to think so.
In 1979, the freshmen class came in at 989 students and since then there hadn’t been a class large enough to compete with that enrollment.
This year’s freshman class — the largest in Creighton’s history — has helped boost enrollment up 8% from 2006.
With the help of this large class, Creighton was placed among the top five private universities in the Midwest with undergraduate enrollments of more than 4,000 students.
Despite the economic crisis, this freshman class has also contributed to Creighton being named one of the top 45 private universities nationally and now the top eight U.S. Catholic universities and colleges.
When dealing with a large quantity of people, there are going to be ups and downs — some of them are obvious and some of them occur behind the scenes.
Katie Thompson, Arts & Sciences sophomore and McGloin resident, feels having a large class is a downfall for the students.
“There needs to be more dorms for freshmen only. Some of them are living in apartments like Heider Hall, and it’s unfortunate for them because they aren’t getting the full dorm experience,” Thompson said.
“I feel they are missing out on what a huge part of the year is about.”
Creighton University’s Director of Admissions, Joe Bezousek, explained the role the Admissions Office played in recruitment.
“From the admissions perspective, we see the result of a whole community coming together. We don’t want all the recognition because when everyone comes together, we can work to reach out to a lot of people,” Bezousek said.
“It’s very important to personalize the recruitment process; and we believe that’s what the students remember when it comes time to choose a school.”
Bezousek said admissions should not take all the credit.
“Residence Life did a wonderful job with housing accommodations for such great amounts of students. As far as parking goes, people will always get a spot, it’s just a matter of having to walk a little bit farther than you used to,” he said.
Andrew Locke, Arts & Sciences junior, lives off campus and is taking a whole different standpoint from many others; he sees the large amount of freshmen as a definite positive.
“To me, it’s a great thing. Think about all the prestigious schools in the country. All are of great size. The bigger Creighton gets, the better chance we have to compete with these schools as far as athletics, academics and prominence goes,” Locke said.