Admitted students are connecting with Emory in innovative ways - and long before classes start.

Emory College of Arts & Sciences, Emory's main undergraduate division, has received an all-time record number of 17,652 applications for fall 2013 admittance, edging out the previous high from last year's 17,493 applications.

Trends in application numbers and the academic excellence and diversity of the pool look positive as admissions staffers at Emory College and Oxford College evaluate thousands of applications for entry into the fall 2013 freshman class.

Early Decision 1 applications to Emory University for first-year students entering in Fall 2013 are up at both Emory College of Arts and Sciences and Oxford College.

Emory University faculty are gearing up to offer the University's first MOOCs - massive open online courses - in areas that represent some of the university's distinctive strengths in liberal arts, the health sciences and policy studies.

The new first-year students - 1,371 currently enrolled for Emory College and about 470 for Oxford College - hail from five continents and from across all regions of the United States.

Own Oxford welcomed 55 freshmen to Oxford College for a summer program that gives new students an opportunity to experience the campus prior to official orientation.

A series of open houses on the Emory and Oxford campuses give accepted students an opportunity to see if the fit is right.

On March 22-23, the Rollins School of Public Health hosted its annual Visit Emory event for newly admitted students.

Several of Emory University's graduate schools and programs are ranked among the best in the nation, according to analysis and surveys released today in U.S. News & World Report's 2013 edition of "America's Best Graduate Schools" guide.