Notes

These are items that bear looking into more closely.

• This institution’s six year bachelors graduation rate is 70.6%, so approximately 3/10 of undergrads who enroll do not earn a bachelors degree from here.

Overview of institution

This, and the rest of the page, use info from the most recent year available, generally 2023.

• Institution kind: Doctoral Universities: Very High Research Activity

• Undergrad program: Balanced arts & sciences/professions, high graduate coexistence

• Graduate program: Research Doctoral: Comprehensive programs, no medical/veterinary school

• Enrollment profile: High undergraduate (see more details below)

• Average net price for undergrads on financial aid: $18,479 . This is 90% the average cost of Harvard.

• Actual price for your family: Go here to see what your family may be asked to pay. It can be MUCH lower than the average price but also higher for some.

• Size and setting: Four-year, large, primarily nonresidential

• In state percentage: 77% of first year students come from Virginia

• In US percentage: 97% of first year students come from the US

• Graduation rate (within 6 years) for students seeking a Bachelors: 70.6% (this is what is usually reported as “graduation rate”)

• Graduation rate (within 4 years) for students seeking a Bachelors: 48.5%

• Percent of students seeking a Bachelors who transfer out of this institution: 15.7%

• Student to tenure-stream faculty ratio: 22.4 (undergrads to tenure-stream faculty) [Tenure explained]

• Student to faculty ratio: 14.7 (undergrads to all faculty)

• Degrees offered: Certificate of less than 1 year, Certificate of at least 12 weeks but less than 1 year, Bachelor’s degree, Postbaccalaureate certificate, Master’s degree, Doctor’s degree: research scholarship, Doctor’s degree: professional practice

• Schedule: Semester

• Institution provides on campus housing: Yes

• Dorm capacity: There are enough dorm beds for 6354 students

• Freshmen required to live on campus: No

• Advanced placement (AP) credits used: Yes

• Disabilities: 8.45 percent of undergrads are registered as having disabilities.

Map

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Leaflet | © OpenStreetMap, ODbL

Comparisons

The sections below show this institution compared with others. The ones listed are ones it has identified as peers, who consider themselves peers, and/or who the federal government considers peers. If a comparison school has the same value as the focal school, its cell is grayed out. In fields where there is a common view that higher (or lower) values are better, the best values are in blue, the worst values are in red. If there isn’t a sense of a particular value being better, values are shown in varying shades of green. Arrows show where there is a signficant trend over time for a school. You can swipe across the table to see more of it; the focal school column is always visible.

• George Mason University lists these schools as ones to compare itself within federal IPEDS data, and they do the same back: Florida State University
• George Mason University compares itself to these institutions, but not vice versa: New York University, University of Southern California, University of Florida, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Northeastern University, Boston University, University of Washington-Seattle Campus, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, North Carolina State University at Raleigh, University of Maryland-College Park, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, George Washington University, University of Connecticut, Syracuse University, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Stony Brook University, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Michigan State University, Arizona State University Campus Immersion, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Temple University, University of Kansas, University of Arizona, University at Albany
• These institutions compare themselves to George Mason University, but not vice versa: University of Central Florida, San Diego State University, Binghamton University, Florida International University, University of South Carolina-Columbia, Texas Tech University, University of Houston, Pepperdine University, California State University-Fullerton, University of Cincinnati-Main Campus, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Middle Tennessee State University, The University of Texas at Dallas, Miami University-Oxford, Texas State University, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Florida Atlantic University, University of Maryland-Baltimore County, The University of Texas at Arlington, University of Missouri-Kansas City, University of Missouri-St Louis, CUNY Queens College, Northern Arizona University, Chamberlain University-Virginia, Rutgers University-Newark, Christopher Newport University, University of Akron Main Campus, University of Massachusetts-Boston, Portland State University, University of Mary Washington, University of Memphis, Morgan State University, Liberty University, Radford University, Walden University, Norfolk State University, Claremont Graduate University, Prescott College, The Chicago School at Washington DC

Enrollment

General

Teaching

Tenure track faculty are those who are eligible for tenure. This includes both pre-tenure and tenured faculty. Once faculty get tenure, they are (generally) protected from being fired for intellectual reasons, helping to ensure their freedom in teaching and research. They can still lose their positions for misconduct, financial problems, not fulfilling their duties, or other reasons.

Non-tenure track faculty are not eligible for tenure. Some are hired one semester at a time, some have multi-year contracts. They typically have a higher teaching load than tenure track faculty, leaving less time for research or other creative endeavors. They are also easier to fire than tenured faculty. Sometimes they are external experts (a noted musician, a former senator) who are hired to teach some classes without the expected permanence of a tenure-track position.

Note that this chart uses US federal demographic data: it only has two genders and a specified set of ethnicities and races.

Having a low student to faculty ratio is considered a good thing by many, as it can mean more individual attention.

Geography

This has information on the location of the institution. See the about page for more information on what the metrics are and how they are calculated.

Financial Aid

Graduation

Note these are bachelors graduation rates in six years, not four (this is standard). Sample sizes can be small for some demographic groups with few individuals in a school, leading to large year-to-year fluctuations and often extreme values for those groups (if there are two individuals in the class with a given identity, the possible graduation rates are 0%, 50%, or 100% depending on whether zero, one, or both students graduate within six years).

Library

Libraries are changing rapidly. Note that how institutions count digital collections may vary.

Diversity

The US Census Bureau has a diversity index that goes from 0 to 1. In their words, “A 0-value indicates that everyone in the population has the same racial and ethnic characteristics. A value close to 1 indicates that everyone in the population has different racial and ethnic characteristics.” This uses their formula, but with the resolution available for the federal IPEDS data (which does not separate for a given demographic group whether members identify as Hispanic or not). This metric is about heterogeneity within the population, not the proportion of the population that comes from historically excluded groups.

Following the practice of the census, the index is multiplied by 100 to give the percentage probability a random pair of individuals will have a different background. Most institutions argue that diversity is a benefit, so by default a higher number is listed as better, but there may be cases where this measure does not reflect the mission of a college (for example, 70% of the students at a tribal college or university may be American Indian: that could be low-scoring by this metric but should not be read as “bad” given the institution’s mission).

These numbers are based on the most recent year available, generally 2023, which predates effects of the US Supreme Court’s striking down of affirmative action. This has often changed, sometimes dramatically, the incoming student demographics at some institutions.

Overall diversity

Freshman profile

Demographic data for first time degree-seeking students. Note that this uses US federal demographic data: it only has two genders and a specified set of ethnicities and races.