OSU welcomes accomplished freshman class and posts highest 6-year graduation rate

Friday, September 12, 2008

(STILLWATER, OK – September 13, 2008) – Oklahoma State University welcomed 3,073 new freshmen to campus for the fall 2008 semester.   OSU-Stillwater’s 6-year graduation rate of 60.1 percent is the highest in OSU history. In addition, the 4-year and 5-year graduation rates are the highest in 30 years at 32.1 percent and 53.8 percent respectively.   

 “We are excited about the 2008 freshman class and our record graduation numbers,” said OSU President Burns Hargis.  “Not only are we attracting accomplished new students, but as a university we are improving the job of helping students reach their goal of completing their degrees.

“All of this is very important to the university’s vision of creating a modern land-grant institution that better prepares students for a new world,” Hargis said.

More than a fourth of the freshman class was in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class, and more than 430 of the incoming freshmen finished high school with a 4.0 GPA.  

The average ACT score for this year’s freshman class is 24.7.  This year’s freshman class includes 19 National Merit Scholars, 12 National Hispanic Scholars, 104 Academic Scholars and 314 students enrolled in the OSU Honors College.

Seventy-seven percent of the freshman class are Oklahoma residents with Stillwater High School supplying the largest number of students at 112, followed by Edmond Memorial High School with 106 and Jenks High School rounding out the top three with 90 students.

Also for the third straight year international and graduate student enrollment has increased.

Total enrollment for the entire OSU System is 32,178.  Enrollment on the Stillwater campus and OSU-Tulsa campus is 22,768.