For the second year in a row, the University of Vermont welcomes an incoming class with record-breaking academic credentials. Topping the Class of 2019's high scores, the incoming Class of 2020 earned an average 3.64 GPA and SAT scores in critical reading and mathematics of 1206. Additionally, a record 39 Vermont students who earned Green & Gold Scholarships, offered to the academically strongest rising senior at 68 state high schools, have chosen UVM.

UVM’s new students are both academically talented and diverse. They hail from 41 states and 18 countries, and 11 percent of the first-year class are ALANA (Asian-American, Latino, African-American, Native American and multi-racial) students. Among first-time, first-year students, four are Vermont New Americans and recipients of UVM's Akol Aguek Scholarships, and 355 are first-generation college students.

The Class of 2020 will arrive on campus Friday, Aug. 26, the first day of Opening Weekend, an annual program that helps acquaint new students with college life. The weekend culminates in a convocation ceremony, Sunday, Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. in Patrick Gymnasium, to celebrate the opening of the new academic year. Following convocation, the UVM community will process down Main Street to the University Green, where the Class of 2020 will participate in a twilight induction ceremony.

All UVM students, an estimated 12,000, begin classes Monday, Aug. 29.

New this year

Students return to construction progress at the heart of campus, where Discovery, the first building of UVM’s STEM Complex, and a new residence hall for first-years continue to take shape. Both facilities are slated for a 2017 opening. Learn more about these and other projects on the Building UVM website.

New academic programs this year include a bachelor of science degree in food systems. With the addition of the undergraduate degree to existing master’s and doctoral options, UVM will become the first land-grant institution in the nation to offer three degree levels in food systems. Beginning this fall, students also have the opportunity to major in biomedical engineering and data science

Complementing the academic calendar are a number of notable events. On Wednesday, Sept. 14, Elizabeth Kolbert, whose bestselling book The Sixth Extinction was this year's Summer Reading Program selection, will give a lecture in Ira Allen Chapel. On November 3, Dr. Paul Farmer, co-founder of Partners in Health, will deliver this year’s Aiken Lecture.

PUBLISHED

08-18-2016
University Communications