September 29, 2008

Large freshman class boosts Purdue Agriculture enrollment

Total enrollment in Purdue's 42 agricultural majors is 2,535 - four shy of fall 1997, said Dale Whittaker, the ag college's associate dean and director of academic programs. Of this fall's enrollees, 581 are first-semester freshmen, and 115 are transfer students.

"Interest in agriculture is taking off," Whittaker said. "Our enrollment is going up because students see agriculture as offering strong, viable careers where they can make a living. There's also a new idealism among young people. Students want to make a difference in the world, and they see agriculture as a way to do that in areas such as climate change, clean water, bioenergy and world hunger."

The new agriculture students are among Purdue's best, Whittaker said.

"Our average new agriculture student ranked in the top 20 percent of their high school graduating class, which is higher than the university average," Whittaker said. "In addition, just over 25 percent of our incoming freshmen placed in the top 10 percent of their high school classes."

Animal-related majors drew the most incoming freshmen and transfers, with 154 in animal science and 46 in preveterinary medicine.

Many animal science students initially plan to enter veterinary school, said Mark Diekman, undergraduate program coordinator for Purdue's Department of Animal Science.

"A lot of these students have an interest in small animal veterinary medicine and behavioral well-being issues that aren't necessarily tied to production agriculture," Diekman said. "About 80 percent of our undergrads are female."

Agricultural economics attracted the next highest number of new freshmen/transfers - 46 - followed by agribusiness management at 44 and pre-landscape architecture at 40. Other top agricultural majors in new student enrollment included wildlife, 38; biochemistry, 36; food science, 34; and pre-agricultural and biological engineering, 31.

Among the incoming freshmen, 481 are Indiana residents and 100 are non-residents. Many transfer students come from Asia, Whittaker said.

"This shows the international reputation our agricultural programs enjoy," he said.

Writer: Steve Leer, (765) 494-8415, sleer@purdue.edu

Sources: Dale Whittaker, (765) 494-8472, dwhittak@purdue.edu

Mark Diekman, (765) 494-4829, mdiekman@exchange.purdue.edu

Ag Communications: (765) 494-2722;
Beth Forbes, forbes@purdue.edu
Agriculture News Page

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