Prospective fellows to visit campus this weekend; best of the class of 2008

Ashley Feibish / News Editor

Fellows Weekend starts tomorrow and runs through Saturday, March 6. More than 8,000 students applied to Elon this year, and 802 of those students applied to the six different Fellows programs, said Associate Director of Admissions Melinda Wood. Wood plays a large roll in Fellows Weekend.

“I helped plan it and process all of the applications,” Wood said.

Current fellows will help out with the weekend activities.

Of those 802 students, 738 were admitted to Elon’s class of 2008 and 552 were invited to participate in the fellows events this weekend. As of last week, 419 students were planning on coming to Fellows Weekend, up from the 380 that were on campus last year, according to Wood. These students are expected to be the brightest in the class of 2008, with an average recalculated grade-point average of 4.23 and an SAT score of 1283.

Each of the five programs will accept anywhere between 25 to 60 prospective students. They include: Honors, Elon College, Jefferson- Pilot Business, Journalism and Communications and Isabella Cannon Leadership.

Of the prospective students on campus this weekend, the Business Fellows group is probably the smallest group competing, the largest is Elon College, Wood said.

While the students will separate into their respective fellows groups during most of the weekend, many will follow the same schedule. Rex Waters, assistant dean of students and faculty director of the leadership Fellows, said “(prospective leadership Fellows) will attend a reception, go to a class, write an essay, and have an interview with a faculty member,” Waters said.

Of the 114 students invited to compete for the leadership program, about 75 are coming.

“They (leadership Fellows) will go through a problem- solving activity. We observe individual and group decisions. It gives us the opportunity to see them in action.”

In addition to the events for students, “parents will also be able to hear from current Fellows,” Wood said

Another big change in the Fellows program for the class of 2008 is the Journalism and Communications Fellows. In previous years, 20 students have been accepted, this year, 30 Fellow’s Weekend finalists will be admitted to the program. Around 70 prospective JCM Fellows will be on campus this weekend.

“Since there are 30 people there will be an attempt to divide them into two Elon 101 classes (next year),” said Ray Johnson, professor of communications and director of the JCM Fellows program. Even though there will be more Fellows, logistically you could not further split them into journalism and communications Fellows, Johnson said.

For those unable to come to campus, prospective Fellows write a paper and have a telephone interview.

According to Johnson, “There is a tremendous advantage to coming on campus.”

Kristen Sween / Photographer

(Clockwise from top left) Lisa Purtz, Melinda Wood, Greg Zaiser and Catherine Williams all helped organize Fellows Weekend. As of last week, 419 prospective students were planning on attending this weekend’s events.