This year’s freshman class is about the same size as last year’s — just more than 4,000 students. But when freshmen arrived on Friday, President Lester Lefton tweeted what sets this year’s class apart.

“Convocation. The best class ever!” he wrote on his Twitter page.

The average high school GPA of this year’s freshmen increased by about 0.01 of a grade point and their ACT scores rose about 0.2 of a point, compared to the Fall 2009 freshman class.

“This looks like it will be a record breaking class,” said Dave Garcia, associate vice president for enrollment services.

The 2009 class was also a record-breaking class. These estimates will be finalized by Sept. 15, Garcia said.

He said the increase in scores is because of an increase in applicants.

“The more applicants we have, the more selective we can be,” he said.

Garcia said this year Kent State received more than 15,000 freshman applications — the largest number to date. Once the applications are in, Garcia said the university aims to improve the quality of students from the previous year. This means higher grades and test scores, more diversity and more out-of-state students. The university aimed for a GPA average higher than the 3.21 average of Fall 2009.

Garcia also said there are new out-of-state recruiting receptions in Pittsburgh and Buffalo, N.Y. Erie, Pa., will be added this year.

Although the selectivity in increasing, there’s nothing different about the application process.

“The application requirements are still the same,” said Mark Ledoux, associate director of admissions.

He said there aren’t any plans to raise the minimum requirements because the university still looks at applicants as a whole.

“We aren’t just looking for a certain GPA or ACT score,” Ledoux said. “We’re looking at high school classes, recommendation letters, et cetera — so if a student is lacking in one area, he can make up for it in another.”

Contact Jessica White at [email protected].