Scranton’s Class of 2014 Moves in
The University of Scranton will welcome it incoming undergraduate Class of 2014 of about 970 this weekend. In addition to the undergraduate class, Scranton will also welcome more than 91 transfer students and about 170 new graduate students this weekend.
Drawn from more than 7,800 applicants, Scranton’s Class of 2014 has an average SAT score of 1,126 and includes 15 valedictorians and salutatorians, many of whom represent local high schools including Holy Cross, Scranton, West Scranton, Pittston Area and Wyoming Area.
Incoming students represent more than 400 high schools, 13 states and Ireland. Students from northeast Pennsylvania make up about 24 percent of the class, and about 16 percent of the incoming students represent diverse populations, not including our international student population. Majors showing the largest increase in students are exercise science, computer science and psychology.
The Class of 2014 also includes 71 legacy children of University of Scranton alumni, including 15 from alumni couples.
The University of Scranton will also hold an orientation for nearly 170 incoming graduate students on Sunday, Aug. 22. Incoming students to the university’s graduate programs include nearly 50 international students representing more than a dozen foreign countries. Incoming graduate students include four Fulbright teaching assistantship scholars from France, Japan, China and Argentina.
The Fall Welcome program will include a New Student Convocation, at which Rev. Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., president of The University of Scranton, will formally welcome the class. Also, the Class of 2014 banner will be introduced and an honorary degree will be conferred to best-selling author Stephen Kinzer, who wrote “A Thousand Hills: Rwanda’s Rebirth and The Man Who Dreamed It,” the book read by incoming freshmen at Scranton. The book examines the life and vision of Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, a Tutsi refugee who organized the military movement that helped end genocide in his country and has since led a program of reconstruction in his country. Kinzer will discuss “A Thousand Hills” with the members of the Class of 2014 at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 22.
Fall Welcome will also include an All Student Welcome Mass, a barbeque, entertainment, a class photo, residence hall and commuter meetings, an alumni legacy reception and other activities.