Pomona, CA – Cal Poly Pomona will welcome more than 7,700 incoming first-time and transfer students this fall, the largest class in the university’s 80-year history when class start on Thursday, August 23.

The increase comes as the campus, which is ranked No. 47 on Money Magazine’s list of “The 50 Best Colleges in the U.S.” for quality and affordability, ushers in its first year on the semester calendar.

Applications increased nearly five percent to 36,642 for first-year students, and the number of transfer student applications also increased slightly to 15,754 for 2018-19 from 15,443 in 2017-18.

Here are seven facts about the incoming Broncos:

The colleges of Engineering, Business Administration, and Letters, Arts & Social Sciences are the most popular with incoming students. Of the new transfer students, 1,085 plan to study business and 1,074 will pursue degrees in the College of Letters, Arts & Social Sciences (CLASS). For incoming first-year students, 869 selected engineering and 759 chose CLASS.

Although national trends point to a gender gap at colleges and universities where more women than men are pursuing higher education, Cal Poly Pomona’s incoming class is 51.5 percent male.

The number of first-generation college students beginning their first year at Cal poly Pomona is 2,339 for first-year students and 3,336 for transfers.

A total of 801 California high schools are represented.

Cal Poly Pomona also has an international flair with more than 45 countries represented in the incoming class, including China, Indonesia, Morocco, Germany, Nigeria, Kazakhstan and French Polynesia. The new students speak 94 languages other than English.

An overwhelming majority of Cal Poly Pomona students are Californians. Of the incoming first-year students, only 175 are from out of state. For transfer students, that number is 241.

A total of 34 of the female first-year students have something in common: the name Samantha. For female transfer students, the most common name is Jessica with 29. The name Daniel is the most popular among male first-year students at 35. David is the name of 26 incoming male transfer students.