U of M freshman class posts highest ACT scores

The freshman class at the University of Minnesota's flagship Twin Cities campus arrived with the highest-ever average ACT scores and the highest number of National Merit Scholars.

A new report from the university staff to the regents says the average ACT composite score of the freshman class is 27.5, up from 27.2 last year and 25.2 in 2006.

There are 166 National Merit Scholars among the freshman, which the university says is more than any other public Big Ten university. There were 101 merit scholars last year and, for comparison, only 75 in 2006.

It's another sign of how exclusive the campus has become. In the fall of 2011, the university received nearly 40,000 applications for the about 5,400 spots in the freshman class.

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