I would like to take this opportunity to respond to your article “Suffolk’s next challenge’’ (Nov. 17) as it categorizes Suffolk University’s enrollment statistics.

The average entering grade point average of the current freshman class was 3.0. This includes the 100 new undergraduates admitted conditionally, to whom Suffolk University provides extra academic support. When did a B become a “mediocre’’ grade? The entering grade point average of our honors students is 3.94.
The university and its academic entities have won accolades from sources ranging from The Princeton Review, which has listed Suffolk in The Best 368 Colleges for six years, to US News & World Report, which in 2009 ranked the university in the top tier for master’s programs.

Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review rank the Sawyer Business School’s undergraduate program in entrepreneurship among the top 25 programs in the United States, while the Financial Times ranks the business school’s executive MBA program among the top 95 worldwide.

I am proud to be a part of a dedicated staff that has enrolled thousands of students over the past 20 years while remaining true to our mission to provide opportunity and access. There are people behind every application, with individual stories to complement their grades. I know that we will never forget to treat each applicant with individual attention and consideration, conscious of their individual strengths and their promise for future success as dedicated, hard-working, productive citizens.

Marguerite J. Dennis
Vice President, Enrollment and International Programs
Suffolk University

As published in The Boston Globe’s Letters to the Editor, Nov. 24, 2009