“We are always excited to welcome another outstanding class of students to campus,” says Brand Stille ’86, vice president for enrollment. “This class is no exception, with students coming from 30 states and six foreign countries — as far away as Iceland — and 17 percent are students of color.” Forty-six percent are from outside of South Carolina.

Wofford’s reputation as a top national liberal arts college attracts high-caliber students from all over, Stille says. “We saw an increase in applications for admission this year, and the incoming class is a great representation of the high quality of students we seek and attract.”

The average high school GPA for the incoming class is near 4.0, and 43 percent of the class was in the top 10 percent of their high school classes. Fifteen members of the class were student body presidents in high school. Fourteen earned the rank of Gold Award or Eagle Scout, 21 were editors of a publication in high school and 193 were captains of high school athletics teams. Sixty-nine are first-generation college students.

Stille notes that the Class of 2021 also includes:

  • Adventure-seekers who: summited Mount Shasta in California, cliff-jumped off a 65-foot rock in Vermont, climbed two 14,000-foot mountains this summer and spent spring break zip-lining and whitewater rafting in Costa Rica.
  • Athletes whose soccer team went 26-0 and were state champions, whose lacrosse team went 17-0, who ran two half-marathons, who won a bronze medal in the 4x400m relay in the 2017 Canada Summer Games and who completed the Krispy Kreme Challenge three times (running a five-mile race in which a dozen doughnuts must be consumed halfway through).
  • One member of a high school choir that sang for Pope Francis during the first mass of 2017.
  • One who had to evacuate her home for 16 days because of Hurricane Matthew.
  • One who has been a sailor since he was 5, and a sailing instructor and coach since he was 11.
  • One who ranked in the top 10 percent of players in the world in Madden 17.

Then, there’s the student who kept a unique promise to her parents — that she wouldn’t go to a college more than 1,000 miles away from home. Thankfully, for her and us, Wofford is only 999 miles away.

By Laura Hendrix Corbin