Commencement math: It all adds up to one big day

They came, they learned, they graduated.

Or at least they will graduate, because the Class of 2015 will have to wait until Monday to flip those tassels. But with finals week winding down, graduating students can’t be blamed for trying their mortarboards on for size.

You can’t tell the tale of all these graduates in numbers alone. In fact, many students have been so immersed in numbers for the last four years that more than a few will be glad if they never see another differential equation or student ID number.

But a few more numbers won’t hurt anyone, and the tally book for the Class of 2015 includes at least a few interesting entries.

For example, 64 years separates the youngest bachelor’s degree recipient, at age 19, from the oldest, at age 83. Among departing Ducks picking up a graduate degree, two score and five years lie between the 21-year-old at the young end of the line and the 66-year-old anchoring the more seasoned end.

And when class members take that final Duck Walk down 13th Avenue, you’re likely to see more women than men. That’s because 2,750 women can collect their diplomas this year, compared to 2,441 men.

Then there’s this from the If One Is Good, More Is Better Department: Among undergraduates, 350 go-getters will leave Matthew Knight Arena with two degrees, and seven academic dynamos will walk out with a sheepskin trifecta.

All in all, the UO will award 4,278 bachelor’s degrees, 674 master’s degrees and 156 doctoral degrees. Toss in the 128 law degrees awarded last month during the School of Law’s commencement and 105 certificates, and this year’s degree grand total is 5,341.

When you figure in the More Is Better crowd, it means 5,193 individuals will have newly minted UO diplomas to show for all their hard work. Almost 2,700 of them call Oregon home, and the rest came from 54 other countries and 47 other states to earn a UO degree.

They studied everything from accounting to zebrafish. The academic host with the most is the School of Journalism and Communication, sending 518 graduates into the world with degrees in marketing, advertising, journalism and media studies.

Filling out the rest of the Top 5 are business administration with 468 grads, psychology with 296, general social science with 281 and economics with 217. Other top majors are human physiology, art, political science, accounting and sociology.

For all the graduation day nitty-gritty, see the UO commencement website. And you can post all your graduation preparation and big day social media to #UOGrad15.

—By Greg Bolt, Public Affairs Communications