OSU Welcomes Students to New Year at Marion, Columbus Campuses

Students kick off the new year at Ohio State Marion. Photo by OSUM

Ohio State University is welcoming thousands of new and returning students to campus as the new academic year gets underway this week. The university says the incoming freshman class is the largest ever.

That increase in the freshman class extends to the local campus. According to Director of Enrollment Management Matt Moreau, Ohio State Marion projects an autumn semester enrollment of 1,350 students, which is on pace with autumn semester 2012 enrollment figures.   Even though the overall enrollment is equal to last year, the Marion campus expects a 3 percent increase in the number of incoming freshmen compared to last autumn.

The Marion campus held welcome events for new students on Monday. These mirrored activities at the Columbus campus where nearly 7,000 new Ohio State University national and international students learned about their new hometown and “how to live like a local,” during the First-Year Student Columbus Welcome which took place at Nationwide Arena.

Ohio State’s incoming class includes students from all 88 Ohio counties, 48 states and international students from 41 countries.

Last week, Ohio State Interim President Joseph Alutto said he will work to continue the university’s upward trajectory.

“Our focus is on three key areas. First – enhancing the Ohio State experience for undergraduate and graduate students. Second – enabling the implementation of the university’s strategic vision to continue attracting world class faculty and researchers. And third – increasing efforts to secure new financial assets to support students, faculty research, scholarship and innovation,” said Alutto.

Javaune Adams-Gaston, vice president for student life, said the university is launching a pilot of the Second-year Transformational Experience Program (STEP) initiative this year.

“At the core of the STEP initiative is student engagement and student success. The Ohio State student experience is a differentiator for us in higher education, and STEP is yet more progress in our path from excellence to eminence,” said Adams-Gaston.

Applications to be part of Ohio State’s freshman class this year hit an all-time high, according to Dolan Evanovich, vice president for strategic enrollment planning.

“Demand for an Ohio State education has never been higher. We saw a 24 percent increase in freshman applications this year, with a record 35,475 applications,” said Evanovich.

Evanovich expects approximately 7,100 new students at the Columbus campus this year, and also projects the class will be the brightest ever in terms of higher ACT scores and students ranked in the top 10 and 25 percent of their high school classes.