OSU total enrollment increases; welcomes most 4.0 freshmen of any state university

Friday, September 11, 2009

OSU System Enrollment for Fall 2009

(STILLWATER, OK., Sept. 11, 2009) -- Total enrollment for the Oklahoma State University System is up 4.5 percent this fall with 33,464 students, the school announced Friday during the regular meeting of the OSU/A&M Board of Regents.

Every campus posted an increase over fall 2008. Enrollment for the Stillwater and OSU-Tulsa campus is 22,845, which is up from 22,768 last fall. Graduate students posted the highest gains with 4,667 students this fall, compared with 4,463 last year, an increase of 204 students.

OSU Institute of Technology posted an enrollment of 3,015, a 2.7 percent increase; OSU-Oklahoma City has an enrollment of 7,179, a 21 percent increase; and the OSU Center for Health Sciences has an enrollment of 425, an increase of nine students from the previous fall. System-wide enrollment of 33,464 was up 1,432 students from last year’s total of 32,032. 

“In these uncertain economic times we are extremely pleased to see these increases,” said OSU President Burns Hargis. “We have worked harder than ever to attract students to our campuses. Higher education offers a passport to a better future and Oklahoma State University provides students academic excellence in virtually every field of study.”

OSU’s Stillwater campus welcomed 3,148 new freshmen for the fall 2008 semester, and the quality of these students has set new records, Hargis said.

A record-setting 540 freshmen, more than 17 percent of the freshman class (or one in six freshman students), had perfect 4.0 grade point averages, and more than 27 percent of the entering OSU freshman class ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class.           

“This number of new freshmen with perfect GPAs is the highest of any university in the state of Oklahoma, and we are thrilled that this group of exceptional scholars selected Oklahoma State University for their higher education,” Hargis said.

The average ACT score of this newest incoming class, 24.9, also is an all-time high for OSU.

Of the freshman class, 300 students were valedictorians of their high school classes, bringing the total number of Oklahoma high school valedictorians who are studying at OSU to 1,580.

“OSU has long attracted the best and the brightest of Oklahoma’s students, which is evident by the number of high school valedictorians who select this university,” Hargis said. “OSU recognizes the importance of attracting and keeping in Oklahoma the brightest and most creative students in our state. These students are the future of our state and of our economy.”

The Stillwater campus is also the home to 11 new National Merit Finalists or National Merit Scholars, 24 National Hispanic Scholars, 119 Academic Scholars, and three National Achievement Finalists or Scholars.

OSU’s international student enrollment is the largest in four years, according to Tim Huff, International Students and Scholars manager. This fall, 1,786 international students are enrolled representing 114 countries.