Following a remarkably small incoming class in the fall of 2023, Goshen College saw a sharp enrollment spike this semester. This first-year class brought in 201 new students, the highest number since 2017.
The shift was dramatic from last year’s freshman cohort of only 156; it marked an increase of almost 30%.When asked about the difference from 2023 to 2024, Ben Koop, a member of last year’s incoming class, said, “I think it’s more apparent to me now coming in as a sophomore that our class was smaller because I do notice that there are significantly more first-years this year.”
This fall, according to the admissions office, GC enrolled 48 new international students. Additonally, GC enrolled 136 new athletes, almost a third of the total number on campus. Among those athletes are most of the members of Goshen College’s first-ever bowling team.
The incoming cohort also contains 98 first generation college students, according to direct student reporting. This represents 49% of the total incoming class.
Handling the scale of this freshman group came with its difficulties. Adela Hufford, director of orientation transition and retention, described how more preparation was required, and how it wouldn’t have been possible without a larger number of orientation leaders. She said, “I felt it was a larger class in terms of managing orientation and Welcome Week.”
She made it clear, however, that she views this enrollment turnaround as a very positive thing. She said she was “very grateful for the admissions office and financial aid, and everyone that works with students on the front end.”
Hufford also shared a unique perspective that she has gained from her work with new first-year classes: “Every incoming cohort has its own personality, and it’s always different from the year before.”
Koop, comparing his smaller class to this year’s larger one, made a similar comment. “What that meant for me was just getting to know everyone even quicker,” he explained.
However, the community feeling that is often used to define Goshen College has not been lost, according to Bruno Diller, a freshman from Miami, Florida. He spoke favorably of his experience so far getting to know his fellow first-years.
Diller said that although he didn’t know everyone on a close basis yet, he felt he had become familiar with a decent portion of them. He said, “I know names and I know faces, and as the years go by … I think that we’ll all start to get closer and closer.”
He finished by saying, “We are the class of 2028, you know? We’ll be in it for the long run.”
This article has been edited. In the original article we stated that “GC enrolled 23 new international students,” this was incorrect. The actual number is 48.
