Diversity at Mason

At Mason, you won’t be a part of one community — you’ll be a part of many.​​

Diversity is one of our core values; everyone is welcome here. Mason was recently named the most diverse university in Virginia by U.S. News & World Report.

Your college experience might be the first time you’ve lived away from home. While at Mason, you’ll be making your own decisions and forming your own view of the world. Engaging with diverse groups of individuals, including students, faculty, and staff, will enrich this experience. You will learn from them, and they will learn from you.

We have a variety of communities here, and you're sure to find a group of people who are like you. The great thing is you'll also be embraced by communities of people who are not like you. At Mason, you'll be in a place where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Interacting with people from a variety of backgrounds will:

• Widen your outlook of the world,
• Show you how to work and collaborate with people of differing views,
• Expose you to new perspectives from people with disparate life experiences, and
• Give you the social skills to interact with all kinds of people.

Diversity also enhances learning and creative thinking by prompting the study of new material and the awareness of fresh viewpoints. The power of many perspectives will boost your capacity to explore original ideas and solutions. Seeing issues in a new way heightens your creativity and problem-solving abilities.

Another benefit: As our nation becomes more diverse, students who learn in a diverse environment will be more competitive in an increasingly global economy. You’ll enhance your critical thinking skills and improve your ability to develop nuanced solutions to real-world problems.