You may be surprised to discover that the typical College of ACES freshman is female and comes from the Chicago suburbs.

As the new school year begins, freshman enrollment at the University of Illinois hit an all-time high of about 7,300 -- and more than 600 of those first-year students are in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.

"Thirty years ago, our typical freshman was probably a white male from a farm or rural community in downstate Illinois, majoring in food animal sciences or agricultural engineering," according to Kirby Barrick, ACES Associate Dean for Academic Programs.

"Today, if we averaged all of the numbers and came up with a composite of the typical ACES freshman, she would be a white female from a Chicago suburb who is majoring in pre-veterinary medicine or child and adolescent development. She scored a 26 on her ACT, and graduated in the top 20 percent of her class."

That's not to say that more traditional agriculture-oriented programs are dying.

"Those programs are alive and well, and we still have hundreds of extremely bright students enrolled in our agricultural concentrations," Barrick said. "But as the economic base of rural communities has shifted and society has become more urban and suburban, some of our newer programs have seen dramatic increases in enrollment. The students want to go where the career opportunities are."

Statistics for the 2004-2005 academic year are not yet available. But in the last school year, the top five ACES concentrations, in terms of enrollment, were:

• Science, Biotechnology and Pre-Veterinary Medicine - 331 students
• Child and Adolescent Development - 138 students
• Commodity and Textile Marketing - 119 students
• Food and Agribusiness Management - 98 students
• Hospitality Management - 97 students

ACES enrollment is 59 percent female, 89 percent Caucasian, and 96 percent from within the State of Illinois. Enrollment in some curricula is overwhelmingly male (agricultural engineering - 91 percent), while enrollment in other programs is mostly female (human and community development - 82 percent, and animal sciences - 77 percent).

The College is home to students from 94 of Illinois' 102 counties. The five counties with the highest enrollment in the College of ACES are Cook, DuPage, Lake, Champaign and Will.

Find out more about undergraduate programs in the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.