OSU announces record enrollment; freshman class largest in nearly 30 years, has record ACT

Monday, August 23, 2010

Students at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater file into the Classroom Building. Today marked the beginning of the fall 2010 semester. OSU is welcoming an historic 23,220 students on its Stillwater/OSU-Tulsa campuses and one of the largest freshman classes in nearly 30 years. System-wide enrollment totals 35,280.

Oklahoma State University hit several enrollment milestones and welcomed a freshman class that is the largest since 1981 and one of the strongest ever academically as the fall semester began today on the Stillwater campus.

As of Monday morning, the OSU freshman class of 2010 has a total enrollment of 3,555, up 13 percent from the same time a year ago. Total enrollment for the combined Stillwater/OSU-Tulsa campuses is up 818 students to 23,220.

OSU has set a record for system-wide enrollment, which also includes OSU-Oklahoma City, OSU Institute of Technology and the Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa. Total enrollment is 35,280. The previous system high was 34,538.

Graduate student enrollment at OSU-Stillwater/OSU-Tulsa as of today is a record 4,801 students, up 431 students from the first day of classes in 2009.

“We are extremely pleased by the increase in our enrollment this year. This is a direct result of our recruitment efforts to attract the best and brightest students from across the state, nation and world to our campus,” said Burns Hargis, OSU President.

The 2010 freshman class is one of the strongest ever academically and one of the most diverse in terms of ethnicity. The class has an all-time high average ACT score of (25.1) and almost one-third of the class has an ACT of 27 or higher.

OSU has the most freshmen with a 4.0 GPA from high school of any public research university in the state for the second straight year. A little more than 500 students, or about one in seven from the class, have a 4.0 high school GPA. It is the third time in the last four years that OSU’s freshman class has had more than 500 students with a 4.0 GPA. More than 800 freshmen (26.1 percent of the class) were in the top 10 percent of their high school class and approximately 450 of the class will be joining the OSU Honors College.

“I am especially excited about the diversity in this new class of students,” said Hargis. “Diversity not only enhances our students’ college experience, it also creates a learning and working environment filled with a variety of people and ideas, and nothing could be better for an institution of higher education.”

Students in the freshman class come from 44 states and 22 countries. The class is also more diverse than last year. A little more than 23% or 823 of the class is made up of Native American, African American, Hispanic, Asian American or international students.

Hargis said the university also is pleased that the incoming freshman class includes a total of 646 first-generation students. Nearly 70 percent of the freshman class (2,446 students) are from Oklahoma and one in five (486 students) are first-generation students. “That speaks volumes about OSU’s commitment to Oklahoma and our land-grant mission of teaching, research and outreach,” he said.

Across the university there are 118 countries represented by the entire student body.

Final enrollment numbers will be submitted to the State Regents for Higher Education on Sept. 13.