Of the more than 34,000 undergraduate students enrolled at MSU, 6.5 percent are enrolled in the Honors College.

The college has 2,300 students, including 480 incoming students - a 14 percent increase from last year.

These preliminary enrollment statistics for the 2001-02 school year, showed the Honors Colleges reached the second highest enrollment since 1971.

At the Academic Council meeting Tuesday, Provost Lou Anna Simon said MSU has an ethnically and academically diverse group of students - and the Honors College numbers enhance that.

“1971 was a banner year for the Honors College enrollment, and this is almost near that record,” she said.

Director Ron Fisher said enrollment has consistently gotten larger over the last seven years, but he hopes it will stay around this level for a while.

“My hope for the future is to stabilize somewhere between 2,100 and 2,300 each year,” he said.

While the Honors College’s enrollment has increased in size, the new students in the college have increased in academic talent as well - along with the rest of MSU’s incoming freshmen this year.

“The university in the last six or seven years has expanded its research of the high academic talent in Michigan and other states,” Fisher said.

Gordon Stanley, director of admissions, said this was one of the strongest incoming classes.

“Going by the preliminary numbers, yes, this is the best academic class to come through MSU,” he said. “It keeps the idea of the land grant institution strong and I’d like to see that trend continue.”

MSU received more than 24,000 applications this year, and more than a quarter were accepted. The average grade-point average of those students was 3.52 and the average ACT score was 24.1.

Once a student has met the increasingly difficult admission standards, entrance into the Honors College is another challenge.

There are two ways students can get into the college, Fisher said.

The first is right out of high school if the student is in the top 5 percent of the class, has excellent grades and good test scores. The college then evaluates all of the criteria, before offering the students the opportunity to enroll in the college.

A student can also be accepted into the college after their first semester at MSU if their grade-point average is 3.5 or higher.

At that point a student can apply the following semester and add some honors classes to their schedules before they can officially join the next year.

Stanley said year after year, the university is continuing to the get the best students they can get.

“In a way, quality attracts quality,” he said. “It gives a positive expression to students of the importance of strong academics at MSU.”