Meet Augusta University’s Class of 2029 

Augusta University welcomes the Class of 2029, which includes students from the local CSRA, the continental United States and overseas. Meet the first-year students, who make up the largest incoming class to date. 

Names

Hannah and Olivia are the most popular female names with nine students each while Logan and Noah are the most popular male names with seven students each. The most popular last names are Smith (18 students) and Patel (17 students). 

Hometown breakdown

At the start of the semester, AU welcomed 460 local students from the surrounding seven counties, with 148 of those from Evans, Georgia, and 124 from Augusta. Despite so many local students, the average first-year student traveled 105 miles to call AU home. 

Overall, this year’s class represents 21 U.S. states – with 23 students attending from South Carolina – and 17 countries.

One Jaguar’s journey

One incoming student has traveled 9,326 miles from Si Racha, Chonburi, Thailand, to AU. Since there is no direct flight from Thailand to the local Augusta Regional Airport, the shortest direct flight from Si Racha to the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, takes around 21 hours. 

Si Racha is a district in the province of Chonburi, Thailand, and it is known for its manufacturing and shipping industries. In fact, the hustle and bustle of this port city is supported by Laem Chabang, also known for being the busiest port in Thailand and a significant hub for international trade in Southeast Asia. 

Thai is the most common language spoken in Si Racha, and it’s famous for being the birthplace of the popular hot sauce, Sriracha, which is named after the town.

Ages

The youngest of the incoming first-year students is 15, born in 2010. As a member of Generation Alpha, here are a few highlights of that year: 

• Movies like “Toy Story 3,” “Inception,” “The Lovely Bones,” “Legion,” “Tooth Fairy,” “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief,” and “The Last Song” premiered 
• “One Direction” was formed during the “X Factor” television talent show with artists Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, and Louis Tomlinson. 
• Television series like “The Walking Dead,” “Sherlock,” “Pretty Little Liars,” “Downton Abbey,” “Justified,” “Adventure Time,” “Hawaii Five-0,” “Parenthood,” “Victorious,” and “Big Time Rush” premiered 
• The Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building at 2,722 ft., opened in Dubai 
• Apple released the first iPad 
• Kesha’s “TikTok” was the No. 1 song on the Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart 
• The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare was signed into law 

The oldest student in the incoming class is 35, born in 1990. As a member of Generation Y (also known as millennials), here are a few highlights of that year: 

• NCAA approved random drug testing for college football players 
• Nelson Mandela is released after 27 years of imprisonment in South Africa 
• Movies like “Goodfellas,” “Home Alone,” “Ghost,” “The Godfather Part III,” “Edward Scissorhands,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” and the “The Rescuers Down Under” premiered 
• Television series like “Law & Order,” “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “The Outsiders,” and “Tom & Jerry Kids Show” premiered 
• Hubble Space Telescope sent its first photographs from space 
• Microsoft releases Windows 3.0 
• Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” is performed where the Berlin Wall once stood in a charity concert   

Popular alma maters

The local school bringing in the largest enrollment of first-year students is Greenbrier High School in Evans with 81 students attending AU. 

The non-local school with the largest enrollment for the incoming class is Grayson High School in Loganville, Georgia, with 23 students. These new Jaguars traveled 130 miles to join Augusta University’s Class of 2029.

Academic averages

This year’s class included 188 students with perfect 4.0 grade-point averages in high school. The average grade-point average for the incoming class is 3.66.  

Top majors

The top declared majors for the Class of 2029 are pre-nursing with 231 students, biology with 229 students, cell and molecular biology with 112 and business administration with 81 students.