At a Glance
George Mason admits 87.5% of applicants.
What You'll Actually Pay
See what families at different income levels actually pay after aid.
Net price data temporarily unavailable. Visit each school's net price calculator directly.
Where the Sticker Price Goes
Sticker price
Not reported by this school
Debt at Graduation
46.6%
receive need-based grant aid
$29,366
average debt at graduation
George Mason graduates carry an average of $29,366 in debt.
Merit Aid
3,348
students received merit aid
$6,944
average merit award
Getting In
George Mason admits 87.5% of applicants.
SAT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 19% of the class submitted
ACT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 2% of the class submitted
13.9% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
George Mason University gives essays less weight than many schools — academics drive most admissions decisions here. Demonstrated interest is Not Considered here — campus visits and emails to admissions won't affect your odds.
Student Life
33% of George Mason classes have fewer than 20 students.
Share of undergraduate class sections at each size, from CDS Section I-3. More red = more large lectures.
At George Mason, 33% of your classes will have fewer than 20 students.
Class size data reflects all undergraduate sections including labs, seminars, and lectures. Large research universities often have smaller upper-division and graduate-level sections that improve the overall distribution. First and second-year students typically experience larger classes than these averages suggest.
Source: Common Data Set 2024–25, Section I-3 (class sizes)
16:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
From out of state (freshman class)
14.8%
Live on campus
20.7%
Men in fraternities
3.33%
Women in sororities
3.52%
Who Attends
Racial and ethnic breakdown of enrolled undergraduates, as reported in each school's Common Data Set. "Unknown / Other" includes students who did not report or selected "other."
George Mason's student body is 31.8% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
George Mason graduates 46.4% of students in 4 years.
Graduating late means paying for extra semesters. The 6-year rate tells you who eventually finishes — the 4-year rate tells you what it actually costs.
George Mason graduates 46.4% of students in 4 years.
What finishing late actually costs
Based on each school's published cost of attendance. Public school costs shown at in-state rates.
George Mason
46.4%
4-yr grad rate
Data pending
* In-state cost of attendance. Out-of-state students pay significantly more.
Graduation rate data from Common Data Set 2024–25, Fall 2018 cohort (most recent available). 4-year rate = students completing in 4 years or less. 6-year rate = students completing within 6 years.
68%
Overall 6-yr rate
64%
Pell recipient rate
There's a 4 point gap between overall and Pell Grant graduation rates. Worth asking the school about support resources.
Freshman Retention
86%
86% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Fairfax.
Mason's campus is the opposite of the city campus its Washington address suggests: 677 wooded acres in Fairfax, accredited as an arboretum, with the quad, Fenwick Library and Horizon Hall arranged around lawns rather than city blocks. The city of Fairfax itself is small and suburban — an Old Town of restaurants and a historic courthouse a couple of miles off — so the pull is outward. Washington is the real amenity, reached by a university shuttle to the Vienna Metro and then the Orange Line, which puts the Smithsonian museums, the monuments and the internship circuit within a single fare. The trade-off is the one that shapes daily life here: with 20.7% of undergraduates in university housing, most students drive, and Northern Virginia traffic and parking are a genuine part of the calculation. Students who want a self-contained campus where everyone lives within a ten-minute walk will find that this is not that place; students who want a green campus with a capital city attached will find few better arrangements.
Notable Alumni
Anousheh Ansari
The first self-funded woman to fly to the International Space Station, launching aboard Soyuz TMA-9 in September 2006 and spending about nine days in orbit. She earned her bachelor's in electrical engineering and computer science at Mason, and is now chief executive of the XPRIZE Foundation.
Rhea Seehorn
The actress behind Kim Wexler in Better Call Saul, a role that drew three Critics' Choice nominations. She came to Mason for the visual arts and was introduced to theater here, earning her bachelor's degree before moving into acting.
Brian Krebs
The investigative cybersecurity journalist behind KrebsOnSecurity, whose reporting has taken down criminal hosting providers and broke early coverage of the Stuxnet malware. His book Spam Nation won a 2015 PROSE Award. He graduated from Mason in 1994 with a degree in international relations.
Class of 1994
Hala Gorani
An international news anchor and war correspondent who reported from the Arab Spring, Syria and Ukraine, and won Emmy, Peabody and Edward R. Murrow awards. She took her bachelor's in economics at Mason and wrote for the student newspaper before Sciences Po in Paris.
Dayton Moore
General manager of the Kansas City Royals from 2006 to 2021, who rebuilt the franchise into back-to-back World Series teams and won the 2015 title. He earned his bachelor's in physical education and health at Mason in 1989 and a master's in athletic administration here in 1992.
Class of 1989
Alan Webb
Held the American record in the mile for 16 years with a 3:46.91 run in Belgium in 2007, breaking a mark that had stood since 1982. A Northern Virginia native, he ran collegiately at Michigan before continuing his college education at Mason as a professional.
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
The City
Major city
Fairfax, VA
Best For
Traditions
Painting the Benches
The benches along the walkways between Fenwick Library, Horizon Hall and Krug Hall have been decorated by student groups for more than fifty years. More than 350 organizations now compete for the right to paint one with their own name, emblem and colors, which makes the quad a running visual census of student life.
Rubbing George's Toe
The statue of George Mason IV on campus carries a small library of superstitions — rubbing his toes for luck before an exam, posing with him in a graduation gown, and never stepping on the plaque at his feet. Student groups dress him for holidays, game days and causes throughout the year.
Mason Madness and the Green Machine
Mason Madness has opened the men's and women's basketball seasons since 2008, and the Green Machine pep band — formed in the wake of the 2006 Final Four run and later named the top pep band in college basketball — plays it, along with Capitals, Wizards and Nationals games around the region.
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Fairfax
Washington, D.C.
35 minutesThe Orange Line from Vienna, reachable by university shuttle, is the sane option over driving and parking. Free Smithsonian museums, the monuments, and the internship and interview circuit.
Shenandoah National Park
1 hour 20 minutesSkyline Drive, Old Rag and the Blue Ridge overlooks, straight west on I-66. The closest real wilderness to campus.
Annapolis & the Chesapeake Bay
1 hour 15 minutesThe Naval Academy, the waterfront and crab houses on the bay, once you clear the Beltway.
Harpers Ferry, WV
1 hour 15 minutesWhere the Shenandoah meets the Potomac — Appalachian Trail access, rafting and a preserved 19th-century town, also reachable by MARC train.
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD)
25 minutes from campus
Flies international — you can start a trip abroad from here.
Pro sports nearby
- Washington Commanders NFL
- Washington Capitals NHL
- Washington Wizards NBA
- Washington Nationals MLB
- D.C. United MLS
Career Proximity
Few campuses sit closer to as much hiring. Northern Virginia holds the densest concentration of federal contractors and cleared technical work in the country, and Mason is in the middle of it: Booz Allen Hamilton, Leidos, Northrop Grumman and MITRE all have major Northern Virginia operations, Capital One and Freddie Mac are headquartered in McLean and Tysons, and Amazon's second headquarters is in Arlington. Add the federal agencies themselves — reachable on the Orange Line — and internships in policy, intelligence, cybersecurity and defense are commutable rather than requiring a summer relocation. Inova, the region's largest health system, anchors the health-care side. The practical consequence is that many Mason students intern during the semester, not just the summer.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- Booz Allen Hamilton
- Capital One
- Amazon
- Leidos
- Inova Health System
Tysons and Arlington are 20–30 minutes north; downtown Washington is about 18 miles east on the Orange Line
Who Thrives Here
George Mason is a 28,331-undergraduate public university on 677 wooded acres in Fairfax, and how its students live is the first thing to understand: 20.7% are in university housing, so roughly four in five commute from Northern Virginia or rent nearby. Greek life is close to absent — 3.33% of men and 3.52% of women join — and the social center of gravity is the quad where student organizations compete to paint their own bench, plus Mason Madness and the Green Machine pep band. It is also genuinely plural: no racial or ethnic group forms a majority, with white students at 31.8%, Asian at 23.2% and Hispanic at 17.7%. The trade-offs are time and money. 46.4% finish in four years against 68.0% in six, and that extra year carries its own tuition; Mason also meets 69.6% of demonstrated need, well short of what a family reading an $18,240 in-state price might expect. What it buys is a 16:1 student-faculty ratio and a campus 18 miles from Washington, inside a job market few public universities sit closer to.