Smith Welcomes Nearly 600 New First-Year Undergraduate Students

Smith School faculty and staff welcomed nearly 600 new first-year undergraduate students at the fall 2024 Freshman Convocation. The growth represents a more than 20% increase in freshman student enrollment compared to last fall – the largest and most impressive first-year class in recent years.

“We’re thrilled to welcome the largest incoming freshman class in decades,” said Prabhudev Konana, dean. “Our unique programs, like the Smith Business Leadership Fellows; Interdisciplinary Business Honors; Sports Management; Computational Finance; and Business, and Society and Economy Scholars are gaining incredible momentum, drawing a brilliant cohort of students.”

The incoming class has “about 100 more students than we had in the fall of 2023,” said Joseph Bailey, associate dean of undergraduate programs. He also said about 35% of the students come from outside the state of Maryland.

The new first-year students had the opportunity to hear from Smith alumnus Mark Rabinowitz ’05, assurance partner at EY, who offered advice along with a positive outlook on starting salaries for accounting majors. Operations management and business analytics student Valeria Salas-Dietz ’25 also addressed the students. She spoke about her own undergraduate journey and the importance of community and support.

In addition to the first-year students, the Smith School also welcomed over 500 MS students and over 200 new MBA students. The new cohorts came together for orientation programs and the start of classes in College Park; at Smith’s multiple campuses; and online.

New faculty are also some of the new faces in Van Munching Hall this fall. Fourteen new, or newly appointed, faculty join existing Smith faculty in a vibrant intellectual community working to educate and inspire students to become future business leaders.