Numbers Game

There’s no better way to define an educational institution than by the students who walk through its doors.

Or those who don’t, perhaps. For as many students Temple accepts yearly, nearly half of those very applicants are rejected, according to a recent “USA Today” study.

Using numbers from 2004, the most recent year available, “USA Today” concluded that Temple accepted only 60 percent of 16,758 prospective students for its incoming freshman class.

So while 10,058 backpack-carrying, wide-eyed students made their way to North Broad Street for the first time in September, greater than 6,500 were left potentially school-less.

While 60 percent seems fair, those thousands of students Temple rejects annually outnumber the total enrollment of Villanova, La Salle and Saint Joseph’s. But what do these figures really say for the future of the university?

Well, Temple’s certainly not downsizing,
as statistics have shown that Temple has increased its undergraduate enrollment
incrementally each of the last six years.

But personalities are more important
than numbers.Just ask any one of the four freshmen “The Temple News” tracked throughout their first months of college life.

Over the last semester – and the opening days of this one – we’ve published
the goings-on of Neteria Augcomfar,
Brandon Wilkins, Linda Yepez and Bernardo Castro. And it’s safe to say the quartet has enjoyed its time here, too.

They’ve bonded in friendships, tested boundaries and attended parties. (If you don’t believe us, check out past editions and next week’s for the latest on these underclassmen.)

Whether these freshmen were from the Philadelphia area or were using an international student visa, our ‘Freshman Four’ have lived quite a memorable five months.

Just think where these young men and women would be if they hadn’t chosen
Temple, or if they’d never been given a chance to shine here. In his first interview with “The Temple News” back in September, Wilkins told us that he thought “we were all just numbers walking around.

Now that I am here and people are getting more comfortable, I don’t even feel like I’m a number.”

And that’s the way it should be.