Gonzaga Welcomes Diverse, Academically Gifted Class of 2024
SPOKANE, Wash. — The 1,058 first-year students Gonzaga University welcomes to campus this week represent the most ethnically and racially diverse class in its 133-year history and among its most academically gifted. First-year students will take part in New Student Orientation Aug. 26-31. Classes begin Sept. 1.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Gonzaga provided students and their families with a choice to attend on campus or remotely this semester. Students will be conducting coursework in a variety of modes, including in-person face-to-face, remote hybrid (in-person and/or face-to-face synchronous instruction), and fully remote.
In addition to the first-year students, Gonzaga also welcomes 128 (approximately) undergraduate transfer students from diverse educational interests and experiences with a passion for learning and community engagement who are eager to share their many talents with the Gonzaga community.
“The new Zags are a remarkable group of first-year and transfer students who will grace the Gonzaga community. I have marveled at their resilience, hope, activism, desire to make the world better, and commitment to their education,” said Erin Hays, director of undergraduate admission. “The Honors Program has expanded under the leadership of Dr. Linda Tredennick and this is the largest group of honors students ever to enroll at Gonzaga (81), with much credit going to Carie Weeks, associate director of admission and coordinator of honors admission.”
Preliminary data show Gonzaga’s Class of 2024 has a 3.69 grade-point average (*unweighted; 3.83 GPA as reported by their high schools) and test scores of 28 (average ACT composite) and 1,260 (average SAT composite). Last year’s 1,257 first-year students entered with a collective 3.82 high school-reported GPA, 28 ACT and 1,280 SAT composite scores.
(*Unweighted GPAs are measured on a scale of 0 to 4.0 and do not account for course difficulty.)
A Snapshot
A snapshot of this class reveals it’s loaded with leaders: 11 student body presidents, 80 class presidents or class officers, 194 members of student government, 818 indicating significant volunteer experience, and 477 with leadership experience at their high schools. The class also includes 60 students who took part in speech or debate, 858 participants in athletics or outdoor activities, 252 musicians, 162 theater or dance participants, 83 ecology/sustainability club members, and 561 who were employed part-time in high school.
Demographically
Demographically, the entering class includes (approximately) 52% women and 48% men. Once again, the largest group of first-year students, 44.8%, hails from the state of Washington (43.5% in 2019). California remains Gonzaga’s No. 2 state with 25.4% of incoming first-year students (22.3% in 2019). Oregon is home to 8.2% of the class (9.2%, 2019), while 4.3% of students hail from Colorado (5.1%, 2019), followed by Arizona (2.4%), Montana (1.6%), Idaho and Alaska (1.4% each), and other states.
The first-year and transfer students represent 35 states — from as far away as Connecticut, Alabama, New York, Pennsylvania and Tennessee (to name a few). The first-year and transfer students represent 17 different countries: Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Canada, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
With respect to religion, 37% of the first-year students indicated they are Roman Catholic. The class includes students from some two dozen other faith traditions.
Official fall enrollment figures won’t be confirmed until Sept. 30. However, Gonzaga’s current numbers are as follows: total enrollment of 7,275 students, including an estimated 4,865 undergraduates, 1,993 graduate students (master’s and doctoral), and approximately 417 Gonzaga School of Law students.