With all the attention on the SATs and test-taking over the last decade, what’s with the spike in the number of New Jersey high school seniors taking Italian?
Those are just some of the data points worth weighing in the College Board’s annual report on America’s college-bound high school seniors. Aside from test results and foreign language enrollment, the report touches on everything from grade-point averages to the top intended college majors. And now that we’re at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, it seems like a good time to see what’s changed since the turn of the millennium.
Granted, direct comparisons can be tricky. But some trends are apparent — not only the increased popularity of Italian as a foreign language (which tracks generally, if not scientifically, with the popularity of certain Jersey-centric television programs), but also the rising number of applicants to a certain Philadelphia college and a noticeable shift in intended college majors.
Number taking SAT
Average verbal scores
Average math scores
Mean grade point average
Average years taking arts/music
Percentage of students listing American literature as coursework in English
Percentage of students with calculus as highest level in math
Percentage of students taking physics
Top three languages taken (by percent)
Top intended college majors (by percent)
Top five colleges applied to (by percent)
Change in graduating students’ applications to Drexel University
