The graduating class of 2019 is Oregon State University’s 150th graduating class, and  its largest class in a decade, including students receiveing bachelor’s, master’s and doctorates. 

The students graduating are from Oregon State Cascades, Ecampus, the Eastern Oregon campus and the Corvallis campus. According to Steve Clark, vice president of university relations and marketing, this year Oregon State has 7,202 graduates with 7,492  diplomas being received.

Of the graduating class, 6,020 will receive bachelor degrees, 985 will receive masters degrees and 329 will receive their Doctor of Philosophy degrees. 

According to the graduation summary records of the Oregon State University Department of Institutional Research, this year has the largest graduating class in over 10 years.  46% of graduates this year are female and 53% are male. 

“It is important to clearly title this as ‘estimated’ or ‘preliminary’ since we will not have final cleared awards until the end of summer,” said Salvador Castillo, director of institutional research at Oregon State. “Awards from fall and winter are included since some of those students may be attending commencement.”

Out of the undergraduate programs, the top three degrees are computer science, business administration, and mechanical engineering. Out of the graduate programs, the top three degrees are pharmacy, computer science, and civil engineering. 

Twenty-four percent of this year’s graduating class are the first generation in their families to graduate from college. According to Clark, the average age of this year’s graduating class is 25, with the oldest graduate being 66 years old and the youngest being 19 years old. 

In the 2017-18 academic year, 22% of the graduating class identified as a minority. This year, according to Castillo, 7.5% of this year’s graduating class comes from a different country. Eight-point-seven% of the graduating class is of Hispanic descent, 7.4% of the graduating class is of Asian descent, and 6.9% of the graduating class identifies with multiple races. The other 77% of the graduating class either identifies as white or international.  According to Clark, this year’s graduating students come from 73 countries all together.