The Class of 2016 is ready to get down to business.
While many graduating seniors aspire to join the ranks of journalists and advertising and public relations specialists, business administration edged out journalism 480 to 478 as the most popular major for this group of students. Sociology, economics and psychology will also be well represented in the pile of 5,192 degrees that will be handed out next week, with 355, 279 and 275 graduates respectively.
Human physiology, art, accounting, political science, and family and human services round out the top 10 majors of 2016.
Several determined Ducks will scoop up more than one of those degrees after they parade down East 13th Avenue on June 13. There are 365 graduating students who decided double the major, double the fun, 10 scholars who will score a sheepskin hat trick and one especially ambitious graduate who will leave Matthew Knight Arena with four degrees.
When all of the pomp and circumstance of graduation season is over, the number of newly minted UO degrees will total 4,192 bachelor’s degrees, 688 master’s degrees, 86 doctoral degrees, 121 law degrees and 46 certificates granted to 5,067 men and women. But following an ongoing trend, more women than men will cross the academic finish line. The class has 2,672 women to 2,392 men.
The UO is seeing another trend with an increasingly diverse and global student body. This year’s graduating class has 615 students from 65 nations, both the most ever. And according to preliminary numbers, the class has the highest number ever of both students of Hispanic descent and members of ethnic minorities.
Still, many of this year’s graduates did not have to travel very far to study in Eugene. Resident Oregonians account for nearly half of the graduates, with 2,520 of them set to earn a degree next week. The other half of the class is a different story, with several planes, trains and automobiles required to carry students from the 48 states, 65 countries and two territories represented in the graduating class.
The majority of these students began their journey to Eugene around the age of 18, but for the youngest graduate of the Class of 2016, that will be when their tenure as a Duck ends. On the other side of the class, the oldest graduate is 70 years young, placing Lyndon Baines Johnson in the White House and the Beatles on top of the charts when they were 18.
Regardless of where and when graduates began their academic journeys, they will complete quite the scholastic achievement when they flip those tassels next week. For the full lowdown on graduation, check out the UO commencement website.
—By Emily Halnon, University Communications