George Mason University will see its largest freshman class ever with 4,500 students, and its total enrollment sets a record for the university and for Virginia at more than 40,000.
The university in Fairfax said it will have a record 3,500 freshmen from Virginia. About 11,000 of the 40,000 total will be new students.
Seventy-one percent of the incoming freshmen had a grade point average of 3.5 or higher.
“In a state where higher education has been around for more than 300 years, this is a moment in history of which we are particularly proud. Record students enrolled means record students graduating, record lives transformed, and record opportunity for regional businesses looking to hire our graduates,” said Gregory Washington, president of the university, in a news release.
Last year, George Mason had 39,510 students enrolled, and its 7,000 new undergraduates included 4,156 first-time freshmen and 2,781 transfer students.
George Mason said it will have “the university’s highest total of in-state and international first-year students.” Many of the new international students are coming from India. Over the past three years, 1,500 students from India have enrolled, according to the university. Many come for the school’s computer engineering or computer science programs, said David Burge, vice president for enrollment management.
The university said its student-to-faculty ratios remain at 16 to 1.
“It is particularly gratifying knowing that we are holding steady on our student-to-faculty ratio and maintaining our overall graduation rates, which are well above the national average,” Washington said.
George Mason’s six-year graduation rate is 71 percent. The university said nearly 80 percent of its graduates remain in Virginia and the DC area.
Feature image by George Mason University/Creative Services
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