August 29, 2019

Susquehanna University opened its 162nd academic year with 624 new students who comprise the most academically successful incoming class in the university’s history.

Susquehanna’s Class of 2023 represents just 15% of a very strong pool of 5,725 applications, with a median grade point average of 3.71, up from 3.6 last year, and SAT scores averaging 1200, up 20 points over last year and 80 points over the past three years.

University President Jonathan D. Green called upon Susquehanna’s newest students to consider themselves citizens of the world and to be the leaders the world needs.

“As citizens of the world, we are all stakeholders in a collective future,” Green said. “Our world has never needed Susquehanna graduates more to be advocates for the triple bottom line we all share, so all may thrive, so all may enjoy respect and so all may inherit an environment that has been passed down responsibly.”

The Class of 2023 hails from 18 states, but 13% live within a 50-mile radius of the university. Nineteen percent of Susquehanna’s incoming first-year students are from historically underrepresented groups (racial and ethnic populations that are disproportionately represented in higher education), and 30 percent are the first members of their families to go to college.

Other facts about the Class of 2023:

Though Opening Convocation marks the beginning of a student’s matriculation at Susquehanna, Green asked the Class of 2023 to put the end in sight — graduation.

“At the close of that ceremony, I will give you this charge: Achieve all you can for good. Lead with honor and humility. Serve with love and pride. And always strive to be not only wiser, but better,” he said. “Keep those goals in mind as you spend the next four years preparing for that day.”