Third Time And Charmed: Duquesne Again a ‘Most Popular’ National School

Duquesne University has been listed among U.S. News and World Report’s Most Popular nationally ranked universities.

To compile its list, U.S. News looks at school yield—the percentage of accepted applicants who actually enroll at national, research-oriented universities, a marker that U.S. News calls “one of the best indicators of a school’s popularity among students.”

“Our accept-to-enroll conversion percentage continues to be at this highly competitive level, which would account for the fact that we enrolled our seventh-largest freshman class last fall,” said Paul-James Cukanna, associate provost for enrollment management.

Based upon figures from Fall 2010, the latest U.S. News list shows that Duquesne accepted 4,989 students and enrolled 1,416 students for a 28.4 percent yield.

These figures were comparable to Carnegie Mellon University and Wake Forest University, which each had a 28.8 percent yield. The University of Pittsburgh shared a similar yield of 28.7 percent.

“It takes a University-wide effort to enroll each new freshman class—especially one composed of academically talented and motivated students who have many choices for higher education,” Cukanna said. “Our inclusion on this list reflects the efforts of many colleagues throughout the University who are actively engaged in the enrollment effort.

“Our ranking also reaffirms President Dougherty’s continued investments in our enrollment management model, financial aid funding and his insistence that the quality of both the academic and student life experiences be of the highest level.”

Duquesne’s last freshman class was the most selective ever and represented 26 states and Puerto Rico, and more than 50 other countries.