U of A Welcomes Most Prepared Freshman Class In Its History

TUCSON, AZ – The halls, streets and eateries on the University of Arizona campus came alive once again today, on this first day of the Fall 2019 semester. While today’s buzz of campus activity might appear to be business as usual, university officials say this schoolyear’s incoming freshman class is anything but usual. Instead, officials are describing them as its “most academically prepared class of Wildcats ever.”

“I am very excited for the start of the new year,” Robert C. Robbins, University of Arizona president, wrote in a news release. “We had more applications than ever this year, and this incoming class of students is truly incredible. I am thrilled to see what they will achieve during their time here.”

University officials culled through more than 40,000 freshman applications from several countries worldwide, deciding to raise the university’s freshman count by 82 percent over last year. Of this semester's 7,750 new freshman, forty-one percent graduated in their high school’s top 10 percent. Additionally, the new freshman class’s ACT (26), SAT (1,261) and core unweighted GPAs (3.51) also topped last year’s.

One hundred ninety-three U of A incoming freshmen are also National Scholars, 82 percent more than last year. Meanwhile, the U of A’s Freshman Honors College reported an ACT average of 31, SAT average of 1,407 and core unweighted GPA of 3.89.

New Fall 2019 degree programs might have had some bearing on the university’s record number of applications. New degree offerings include agricultural systems management, emergency medical services, cyber operations, biosystems analytics and technology, applied physics, and organizational leadership and regional commerce.

Founded in 1885, the University of Arizona currently educates students from 148 countries. The youngest student, an astronomy transfer student, is 12. The oldest Wildcat is 93.