Published: August 21, 2008 12:00 am            

VIDEO: OU freshman class the highest ranked in state history

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The University of Oklahoma's new entering freshman class has the highest academic scores of any public university in the state's history.

OU President David Boren made the announcement at the freshman convocation welcoming new students and their parents Thursday afternoon at the Lloyd Noble Center.

The average ACT of the incoming class is almost 26. The new incoming class also includes 469 students who had perfect 4.0 grade point averages in high school, the most in OU history.

"I am not only proud of your remarkable academic records, I am even more proud of your values and your desire to serve others," Boren told the freshmen.

This year's freshman class includes over 300 State Regents Scholars, more than twice the number as the school in second place. State Regents Scholars rank in the top one-half of 1 percent in the nation in test scores.

This year's class is number one in the nation among public universities in the number of freshman National Merit scholars enrolled per capita, including 176 in this year's class. The freshman class brings the total number of National Merit scholars enrolled at OU to more than 600.

In the past four years, donors to OU have given almost $135 million in scholarship funds, making it possible to give scholarships to 4,600 more students than before the scholarship fundraising campaign began. The campaign still has another year to go.

        

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