Oklahoma State University has the biggest freshmen class it has ever seen this fall. Lines last year were already wrapped around the Student Union for books and Chick-fil-A. Now, those lines are even longer.
Marlene Montgomery, analysts at the Institutional Research and Information Management at OSU said there are an estimated 4,290 freshman enrolled at OSU. The official number of the Fall 2012 freshmen class will not be released until next week.
The OSU freshmen class has grown an average of 380.6 students since I became a student at OSU in fall 2009. I was one of the 3,148 freshmen roaming around campus trying to find all my classes. I remember being overwhelmed every morning when I went through the Student Union to try to get coffee before my 9:00 a.m. freshmen orientation class. There were so many food options, yet still long lines of students. Now, even with a re-modeled union, the lines are just as long, if not longer.
I remember some days I only had 30 minutes for lunch on campus. Some days, I stood in 20 minute lines to get food, had 5 minutes to eat, and 5 minutes to get to class. Those were not fun lunch days. I hope the new freshmen do not have it worse than that because there are more mouths to feed.
I was even more overwhelmed when I tried to find a seat in my 1,000 level History class of 200 people. I came from a high school with only 100 students, 9th-12th grade.
Now, with 1,042 more freshman this fall then I had in my class, I wonder how big all the general education lectures have gotten, and how overwhelmed the kids from the small high schools feel when they sit down in 1001 History.
I am proud of OSU for continuing to inspire high school graduates to continue their education and achieve a college degree. The construction around campus shows that OSU is trying to adapt to its growing numbers. I just hope OSU adapts quickly enough to where commuting students can find parking spots in time to get to class, and freshman who have a 30-minute lunch break, can eat in time to get back to class.