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College choices of top graduates may surprise you

Roberta Heiman

464-7432 or rheiman@evansville.net

Evansville Courier & Press, June 14, 2004

Take a guess: Which colleges and universities have been chosen by the top graduates of Southwestern Indiana's high schools this year?

I was curious, so I did an analysis of the "Class of 2004" special section published in the Evansville Courier & Press on Sunday.

It listed the names of all the graduates of area high schools - the 10 high schools in Evansville, 29 other high schools in this corner of Indiana and 17 in Southeast Illinois.

It also paid tribute to the top scholars in each school and included their photographs, their parents' names, the colleges they plan to attend and the field of study they'll major in.

That's the part I compiled statistics on. And this is what I found:

Purdue University attracted the largest single number (eight) of the 41 top scholars from Evansville schools.

The University of Southern Indiana came in second, with seven. Ball State was third, with four. Others were the University of Evansville, Indiana University at Bloomington and DePauw University, three each, and Yale University, two.

Each of the following universities was chosen by one top Evansville graduate: Washington, Butler, Emory, Valparaiso, Cornell, Union and Webster, as were West Point Military Academy, Asbury College and St. Mary's College at Notre Dame.

Purdue and USI tied as the top choice among the 123 top scholars of all the Southwestern Indiana high schools, including Evansville's. Each was chosen by 24 of the top scholars.

UE came in third, attracting 18. The surprise to me was that IU at Bloomington came in at a distant fourth place, chosen by 12 of the top grads. Can that be right? Is it a new trend?

One strong trend is that USI is now a top choice of bright kids from Southwestern Indiana's rural counties.

Ball State was selected by five; Butler, four; DePauw, four; and Indiana State, three.

In all, this area's top scholars have enrolled at 34 different colleges and universities across the country. Their No. 1 field of study: engineering. It was listed as the major by 31 of the top scholars, far more than any other. That's at least a partial explanation of why Purdue was a top choice - and, perhaps, why Purdue was opposed to USI developing its new engineering school last year. Competition in academia is alive and well.

The second-place major was "undecided." Pre-medicine was third, chosen by 11 top students, plus seven others who listed biology as their major and could end up in medicine. One other is majoring in sports medicine and one in exercise science - which surely will be a growing field.

Business, the top choice not too many years ago, was selected by just eight, the same number that chose nursing. All the nursing majors were girls.

A surprise: Only five said they were majoring in computer science, the same number who chose pharmacy and psychology. Only one chose pre-law. Only one chose English. Only one chose graphic design, a field with a lot of future. And only one chose global studies.

Seven want to become teachers. Only two want to become dentists.

Three are future architects.

It was encouraging to read about these bright young people and their goals. Hopefully, most will return to the Evansville area to build their careers and families, and end our brain drain.

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