Class of 2021 Profile
The Class in Numbers
526 students selected from 6,502 applicants
270 female; 251 male; 5 nonbinary
From 46 states and 21 countries (11% international)
28% identify themselves as people of color
11% are among the first generation of their families to attend college
84% graduated in the top 10% of their class
51 are National Merit Scholars and 9 are National Hispanic Recognition Scholars
Notable Achievements
Academically Sound
Carleton students are enthusiastic about learning. The Class of 2021 includes:
- A lab researcher in condensed matter physics at Arizona State University
- A software developer for astrophysics research
- A translator of Old Norse poems and sagas
- An Echinacea researcher at the Chicago Botanic Garden
- A music “decomposer” who studies chord combinations
- An intern at a University of Pennsylvania research laboratory who genotyped fish
An Active Bunch
Carleton students participate in varied activities and athletic endeavors. The Class of 2021 includes:
- A parachuter who has successfully completed 30 jumps
- A national master and master instructor in chess
- A hiker who’s climbed Mount Kilimanjaro
- A worker on a sockeye salmon drift netter in Alaska
- The concertmaster of the Missouri Symphony Conservatory
- A JROTC awardee of the Military Order of the Purple Heart Award
- An amateur snooker competitor
Off the Beaten Path
Carleton students are smart, independent thinkers who aren’t afraid to do their own thing. The Class of 2021 includes:
- A BBQ restaurant pitmaster and manager
- A Tuvan throat singer
- A builder of scaled models of historic airplanes and ships
- A donut eating competition winner
- A biker who completed the American Challenge (Charleston, South Carolina, to Santa Monica, California) and the European Challenge (Amsterdam to Barcelona)
- 11 martial arts black belts
In Service
Carleton students volunteer regularly. The Class of 2021 includes:
- A summer camp youth leader at an orphanage in Myanmar
- A volunteer with the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy
- A homebuilder with Habitat for Humanity
- The establisher of a literacy program
- The leader of the Water Conservation Committee for the Los Angeles Mayor’s Youth Council
- A certified peer sex educator
- A volunteer who fosters pugs until they’re adopted
- An intern at Dünyagöz Hospital in Ankara, Turkey
- A volunteer coach for Special Olympics
- 12 Eagle Scouts and 9 Girl Scout Silver or Gold Award Recipients
Well Spoken
About 28 percent of the Class of 2021 speaks a language besides English at home.
Collectively, they speak 42 languages and dialects: Akan, Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Cantonese, Chichewa, Finnish, French, German, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Hokkien Chinese, Hungarian, Japanese, Karen, Khmer, Korean, Latvian, Malay, Mandarin, Mongolian, Northern Thai, Persian, Poe-Karen, Portuguese, Russian, Rwanda, Serbian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese, and Yoruba.
Time Well Spent
How members of the Class of 2021 stayed busy in high school:
- 82%: Community service
- 60%: Varsity athletics (28% team captain)
- 46%: Music
- 44%: Paid job
- 24%: Internship/research
- 21%: Theater
- 21%: Student government
- 19%: Journalism/publications
Class Rank
- 84%: First decile
- 95%: First quintile
(Based on students with class rank)
Ten Members of the Class of 2021
These new students provide a glimpse into the varied talents and interests the class will bring to Carleton’s student body.
HUGO CAPLOW
Seattle, Washington
Bush School
Varsity athletics and social justice
Because Hugo’s small school does not field its own football team, he joined the team at nearby Garfield High School and became their starting kicker. Last fall, Hugo and his teammates were featured in Time magazine for standing against racial injustice. In addition to athletic endeavors, Hugo assists children with a broad range of physical and mental disabilities at Seattle Children’s PlayGarden, helps out at a North Carolina Quaker summer camp, and volunteers with the AIDS Alliance.
TYRELL FLOYD
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake Center for Science Education
Cyclist and engineer
Tyrell balances his passions for science and cycling year-round. He is an interscholastic athlete in both mountain biking and road biking. He has participated in several science and engineering fairs and interned in the department of human genetics at the University of Utah. Additionally, Tyrell is a leader in MESA, an organization that teaches younger students about science education and critical thinking. He hopes to find more team camaraderie and new academic challenges at Carleton.
JESSALYN AYARS
Chico, California
Chico Senior High School
Engaged community member
Jessalyn loves her library! She’s been discovering new stories, places, and friendships in the pages of the books held there since she was a child. These days Jessalyn is a Teen Library Volunteer while also balancing her busy schedule filled with piano lessons, lunch preparation at a local homeless shelter, cross-country and track practices, and her responsibilities as president of the Environmental Club at Chico High School. Jessalyn is considering a major in either sciences or mathematics
SARAH EMMONS
Kamuela, Hawaii
Hawaii Preparatory Academy
Girl Scout and entrepreneur
Sarah participates in both musicals and dramatic productions for her school while also taking on several roles in her community. At this point, Sarah has completed both her bronze and silver award projects as a Girl Scout and is working on her Gold Award. Additionally, she has created both nonprofit and for-profit enterprises: Her nonprofit donates toys to children while her for-profit business allows her to follow her artistic passions and sell origami earrings.
EUNICE VALENZUELA
Houston, Texas
Bellaire Senior High School
QuestBridge Match Scholar
Eunice is a first-generation college student and one of several QuestBridge Match Scholars in the Class of 2021. Eunice is looking forward to completing the pre-health track while also continuing her interests in Japanese, Greek, and religion. Eunice has been very involved in her church, where she plays the piano, teaches Sunday School, and volunteers at Bible Camp. We cannot wait for her quirky humor and calm presence to impact our campus community.
ANDREA LOFQUIST
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Shanghai American School – Puxi Campus
World traveler returning home
At the end of her junior year Andrea was faced with a difficult choice: stay comfortable at home in Minnesota for her final year of high school or move around the globe to create a second home in Shanghai. Andrea leapt at the opportunity to better understand and appreciate her roots, and she found immense reward in the risk she took to live abroad. We cannot wait for Andrea to return to her home state of Minnesota for four more years of exploration and pushing herself out of her comfort zone.
JULIA BAUMGARTE
Brunswick, Maine
Brunswick High School
Scientist and musician
Whether she’s working through a physics problem, learning a new piece of viola music, or filling in a blank map of the world, Julia is always ready to solve a puzzle and learn more about the world around her. She enjoys reading Neil deGrasse Tyson and pondering integrals and vector diagrams. She was a violist for the Bowdoin College Orchestra and the trombone section leader for the Brunswick High School Jazz Band. Julia plans to continue exploring her dual passions in science and music at Carleton.
BAIRD KLINE
Titusville, New Jersey
Homeschool
Martial artist and linguist
Baird pushes himself in martial arts as a student of Kokikai Aikido and an assistant instructor for novices in the discipline. Additionally, he takes leadership roles in his synagogue, leading and organizing the youth group while also reporting on Israeli current events. Beyond his immediate community, Baird researched indigenous languages (and learned about smoking elk and spearfishing) in Canada as an intern for the Canadian Indigenous Languages and Literacy Development Institute.
AARON BURBACH
Omaha, Nebraska
Central High School
Leader in the LGBT community
Aaron is a passionate advocate for the rights of queer and trans youth in Nebraska. He has been a member of the Leadership Board for the Queer Nebraska Youth Network as well as an integral member of the Central High School LGBT Club. Additionally, Aaron works with the school board as an advocate for trans-inclusive policies for the public school students in Nebraska. We hope Aaron will become a leader in our community too.
HOUSSEM CHAMMAM
Ariana, Tunisia
Lycee Pilote de l’Ariana
Aspiring politician
Houssem first traveled to the United States as an exchange student through YES (Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study) in Killingly, Connecticut. In Tunisia, Houssem became involved with the Competitive College Club associated with the local Education USA Office. He also participated in Model United Nations and TEDx presentations, and he founded an alumni association for other students returning from YES exchanges. Houssem hopes to pursue a major in political science and international relations.