University Welcomes Class of 2017
Incoming members of the University’s Class of 2017 move in with the help of hundreds of student, staff and faculty volunteers.
The University of Scranton welcomed nearly 1,200 new members to its community this weekend, including approximately 900 members of the class of 2017, about 80 transfer students and more than 200 new graduate students.
The University’s undergraduate class of 2017 was drawn from 9,072 applicants, has an average SAT score of 1,124, and includes a dozen valedictorians and salutatorians with many representing local high schools, such as North Pocono, West Scranton, Riverside, Mid Valley and Valley View. Incoming students represent more than 400 high schools, 15 states, Ireland, China and India. More than 20 percent of the class are from northeast Pennsylvania. Majors represented by the most students include biology, business administration, exercise science, nursing and occupational therapy.
The class of 2017 includes 69 legacy children of University of Scranton alumni, including 14 legacy students from alumni couples.
The Fall Welcome program included a New Student Convocation, at which the “Class of 2017” banner was introduced, Mass, a class photo, “Royal Olympics” and residence hall and commuter meetings, among other activities. Members of the incoming class also helped area children and their families prepare for the upcoming school year by volunteering at the Back to School Bonanza. More than 900 area residents attended the event, which was offered free of charge to area children and included educational games, prizes, refreshments, music and other activities. The event was organized by the University’s Center for Student Engagement, the Center for Service and Social Justice and Office of Community Relations in cooperation with Lackawanna County, Scranton School District, State Representative Kevin Haggerty, State Representative Marty Flynn and NEPAMOM.com.
An orientation for graduate and non-traditional students was also held. Incoming graduate students represent several states and foreign countries, including Saudi Arabia, India, Taiwan and Japan, as well as three Fulbright teaching assistantship scholars from Egypt, France and Spain and a Fulbright research scholar from Bahrain.
Classes for the fall semester began on Monday, Aug. 26.
