STONY BROOK, N.Y.— This fall semester, Stony Brook welcomed both the largest freshman class in the University's history, and the class with the highest SAT scores since the 1970's. The class was drawn from the largest pool of applicants on record.

According to Stony Brook University President Shirley Strum Kenny, "New full-time freshmen to campus number 2,498, with average SAT scores of 1214 for regular admissions, representing a five-point increase from last year. While SAT comparisons are complicated by changes in the scoring and a lack of data for our earliest years, these scores are higher than in any year since 1974. In the Honors College, SAT scores averaged 1423, rising above 1400 for the first time.

"The freshmen class was drawn from a pool of more than 18,100 applications, 400 more than last year and 4,400 more than in 1995. We also have 1,516 new full­time transfers on the West Campus."