Hillsdale College Welcomes Class of 2030 to Campus
The class of 2030 includes 372 students, representing 41 states and eight foreign countries.
HILLSDALE, Mich. — Hillsdale College welcomed the class of 2030 to campus at Freshman Convocation on Aug. 23. The class of 2030 includes 372 students, representing 41 states and eight foreign countries. Preliminary statistics indicate an average 3.94 GPA and 21% admit rate, with 59% of admitted students choosing to attend Hillsdale, a yield rate among the highest in the country.
“A Hillsdale education is difficult but rewarding, and this class is ready and willing to meet that challenge,” said Provost Christopher VanOrman. “Hillsdale gives students the opportunity to wrestle with fundamental questions, learn from some of the greatest minds in history, and grow into men and women of character who understand eternal things and are ready to serve those around them.”
“A Hillsdale education is difficult but rewarding, and this class is ready and willing to meet that challenge.”
During convocation, seniors Livia Dodd and Nicholas Rutkoski addressed the incoming freshmen.
“The thing about the Hillsdale education is that no matter what we choose to study beyond the core curriculum, we are steeped here in an environment that refines our character in and out of the classroom,” Dodd said. “The holistic Hillsdale view of character development is evident everywhere. It is in our leadership, faculty, the campus environment being built around us, a student body ranked number two in the nation for both religiosity and community service, and the honor code that is both prescriptive and descriptive of student behavior. Our learning informs our habits, which strengthen our character.”
Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn spoke to the incoming class about education at Hillsdale.
“Our college studies the same things it studied in 1844,” Dr. Arnn said. “It thinks that those things are eternal things. You are going to have to learn to tell the difference between things that change and things that never do. And you’ll have to identify the things that never do, which is harder today because we think everything has changed.”
“Our learning informs our habits, which strengthen our character.”
Before students and parents went to separate dinner parties, the freshman class recited the Hillsdale College Matriculation Pledge:
We, the students of Hillsdale College, commit ourselves to diligent study and patient reflection. Having come to learn, we are proud to do so with integrity and will conduct ourselves with exemplary honor. As sacrifices past and present make possible our education, we too become stewards of this College for the generations yet to come. We pledge ourselves to the pursuit of truth, the love of the good, and the cultivation of beauty, for the sake of our minds and hearts and for an ennobled society. By so doing, we embrace the high calling of liberal education.
All incoming students also sign the Hillsdale College Honor Code:
A Hillsdale College student is honorable in conduct, honest in word and deed, dutiful in study and service, and respectful of the rights of others. Through education, the student rises to self-government.
Freshman orientation also included talks on the Honor Code and academic honesty, activities at Hillsdale’s Halter Shooting Sports Education Center, and a freshman and faculty dessert hosted by Dr. and Mrs. Arnn.
- Photos from Convocation
- Photos of Hillsdale College
- High-resolution copy of the Hillsdale College clocktower logo
DATE: Aug. 31, 2026