Fast Facts About Students

Information about This Year's Incoming Students
The Department of Student Life welcomes all 9,507 students who are new to MSU this year! Listed below is a sampling of this year's class and some of the communitites and programs of which they are a part.

Agricultural Technology- 182
Business- 1399
CAAP- 881
Connections- 20
Honors College- 486
Human Ecology- 51
International- 432
James Madison- 365
Lyman Briggs- 579
Off-Campus- 1749
On-Campus- 7758
ROIAL- 33
ROSES- 150
Transfers- 1589
Twenty-five+ years old- 237
Veterinary Medicine- 224
With disabilities- 41

Information about Millennial Students
This generation of students is commonly referred to as “Millennials.” They were born after 1980 and are often characterized as:

Structured rule followers (Howe and Strauss, 2000; Zemke, Raines, and Filipczak, 2000)
Protected and sheltered (Howe and Strauss, 2000)
Confident and Optimistic about their future (Martin and Tulgan, 2001; Schneider and Stevenson, 1999)
Conventionally motivated and respectful (Murray, 1997)
Cooperative and team-oriented (Howe and Strauss, 2000; Martin and Tulgan, 2001)
Pressured by and accepting of authority (Howe and Strauss, 2000; Murray, 1997)
Talented achievers (Lancaster and Stillman, 2002)

Millennials constitute the largest cohort in history, with more than 80 million Americans born after 1981 (Yax, 2004).
This generation of students is the most diverse college-going generation ever (Coomes and DeBard, 2004) with African-American enrollment more than doubling since 1980 and Hispanic enrollment growing the most rapidly (National Center for Education Statistics, 2002).
Millennials are the most educationally ambitious generation ever, with more than 3 out of 4 college freshmen predicting they will earn a graduate degree (Sax, 2003; Coomes and DeBard, 2004).

Traditional-aged first-year students entering college in fall 2005 were born in 1987. What happened in 1987?

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts 1st female artist, Aretha Franklin.
“Baby M” surrogate custody battle begins in Hackensack, NJ.
President Reagan signs secret order permitting covert sale of arms to Iran.
Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite is taken hostage in Beirut, Lebanon.
No-smoking rules take effect in federal buildings.
Anti-smoking ad airs for 1st time on TV, featuring Yul Brynner.
Gerber survey finds most popular names for newborns are Jessica and Matthew.
Fox TV network premieres.
Texaco files for bankruptcy.
U.S. deports Karl Linnas, charged with Nazi war crimes, to U.S.S.R..
Gary Hart quits Democratic presidential race due to Donna Rice affair.
First heart-lung transplant takes place in Baltimore.
Corazon Aquino is elected president in the Philippines.
Jim and Tammy Baker appear on “Nightline” after PTL scandal.
“Nightline” presents its 1st “Town Meeting;” the subject is AIDS and the show runs until 3:47 AM.
Margaret Thatcher is 1st British Prime Minister in 160 years to win 3rd term.
Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream and Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia announce new ice cream flavor, Cherry Garcia.
Oliver North began public testimony at Iran-Contra hearing and admits to shredding evidence.
Philadelphia celebrates 200th anniversary of Constitution.
Janet Evans swims 400m freestyle in world record time (4:03.85).
“thirtysomething,” debuts on ABC-TV.
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias wins Nobel Peace Prize.
Jessica McClure is rescued 58 hours after falling 22’ into a well shaft.
(Information collected from www.brainyhistory.com)

Department of Student Life Quick Facts

There were 530 registered student organizations for the 2004-2205 academic year.
Students clubs and organizations submitted 1,484 Activity Planning Forms (APFs) during the 2004-2005 academic year.
There are 55 fraternities and sororities here at MSU.
Approximately 2,500 MSU students are members of social fraternities and sororities (the Greek community) organizations.
During the 2004-2005 academic year, the Department of Student Life heard 347 judicial cases.

Information compiled by Monica Marcelis Fochtman, August 2005