OSU freshman class makes history
Friday, August 17, 2012
Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis will officially welcome the largest freshman class in school history and the largest freshman class at a public university in state history during new student convocation at 4 p.m. today in Gallagher-Iba Arena.
The 2012 OSU freshman class totals 4,306. This is an increase of 428 students, or 10 percent, from the 2011 freshman class, which was the 4th largest class in OSU history. The incoming class tops the previous OSU high of 3,927 in 1980.
“This is exciting news for Oklahoma State University, the entire Cowboy community and the state of Oklahoma,” said OSU President Burns Hargis. “These numbers reflect the exemplar education and student experience we offer at OSU.”
Hargis added, “OSU’s increased enrollment numbers are a direct result of the momentum of our generous donors who are creating opportunities for our faculty and students and the university’s partnership with the city of Stillwater in making this community a top destination for students.”
In addition to the historic number of students in this freshman class, the quality of the students has increased as well.
- 29.4% have a ACT of 27 or higher (1,263 students compared to 1,121 in 2011)
- 15% have a 4.0 GPA (652 students compared to 550 in 2011)
- 27.54% were in the top 10% of high school class (1,007 students compared to 862 last year)
- 337 valedictorians, compared to 313 in 2011
Sixty-three percent of the freshman class is from Oklahoma with 37% from out-of-state from 46 different states. Approximately one-fourth of the class hails from the state of Texas. Twenty-five percent of the new freshmen are minorities and 17.6% are first generation college students.
For information about attending convocation, please contact Carrie Hulsey-Greene at 405.742.7354 or carrie.hulsey_greene@okstate.edu.