George Mason University prepares to celebrate Spring 2024 graduates

George Mason University will celebrate Spring Commencement on Thursday. A record-setting number of students are earning degrees, and nearly 11,000 students total will be recognized for earning degrees or certificates. Graduates represent  114 countries, 50 states, and the District of Columbia, U.S. Virgin Islands, and military installations.

The ceremony is set for 10 a.m. Thursday at EagleBank Arena on the Fairfax Campus. Doors open at 9. 

Tickets are required for guests to enter the arena. Advance tickets are no longer available, but guests without tickets are encouraged to visit the box office on the West side of the arena concourse on the morning of Commencement to request tickets. Overflow viewing seating is available across Patriot Circle at the Center for the Arts Concert Hall. The event also will be livestreamed.

Mason, the largest and most diverse public university in Virginia, will award 10,242 degrees for graduates who have filed an intent to graduate from Summer 2023, Fall 2023 and Spring 2024. The university also will award 646 certificates.

Barbara Humpton, president and CEO of Siemens, is the featured speaker. Zayd Hamid, graduating with a bachelor of science in public administration, is the student speaker.

The Class of 2024 will provide an influx of talent to fill critical positions in the region and state’s workforce—41% of undergraduates are in STEM fields and the health sciences, as are 44% of those earning graduate degrees.

Commencement also will highlight George Mason’s mission of access and opportunity. About 1 in 4 graduates reports that they will be first-generation degree earners.

New graduates will enter the workforce with optimism. According to a Mason Career Plans Survey, 87% (of a total of 3,930 respondents) of Class of 2023 George Mason graduates had a positive career outcome at or within six months of graduation, with a median salary of $74,000.

The top five majors among the 6,138 undergraduates in the Class of 2024 are business; information technology; psychology; computer science; and criminology, law and society.

For the 3,578 students earning master’s degrees, the top five majors are computer science, data analytics engineering, special education, curriculum and instruction, and business administration.

The top majors for the 319 students earning doctoral degrees are education, economics, psychology, writing and rhetoric, and computer science. Doctoral candidates will be individually recognized. Graduates receiving bachelor’s and master’s degrees will be recognized as a group at their seats.

There are 207 Scalia Law School graduates. The law school will hold convocation ceremonies Friday and Saturday.