Calvin University Overview

Calvin University is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The location of Calvin is great for students who prefer living in an urban area.

What Is Calvin University Known For?

• The 1% student loan default rate at Calvin is better than the national rate of 10.1%. That's a good sign that you may be able to pay off student loans easier than your peers at other schools can.
• The master's degree is the highest award offered at Calvin.
• For the 2019-2020 academic year, 99% of the faculty were full-time.
• Students who graduate from Calvin with a bachelor's degree make about $49,930 a year. That's 22% more than those who graduate from other schools.
• It takes the average Calvin student 4.2 years to graduate. This is pretty good when compared to the national rate of 4.4 years.

Calvin University Rankings

We have ranked Calvin as #251 out of 2,018 colleges and universities in the country in our 2023 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 15% of all schools in the nation. Calvin also holds the #6 spot on the Best Colleges in Michigan ranking.

These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Calvin.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#10	Best East Asian Languages Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#29	Best General Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#40	Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#46	Best Special Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#60	Best Business, Management & Marketing Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#65	Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#65	Best Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#69	Best Accounting Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#78	Best Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#85	Best Finance & Financial Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards Calvin has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#5	Best History Education Schools	College Factual
#9	Best Physical Education Teaching & Coaching Schools	College Factual
#23	Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Schools	College Factual
#67	Best Teaching Schools	Teaching Degree Search
#70	Best Education Schools	College Factual
#81	Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Schools	College Factual

Where Is Calvin University?

Contact details for Calvin are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	3201 Burton Street Se, Grand Rapids, MI 49546
Phone:	616-526-6000
Website:	www.calvin.edu
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/calvincollege
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/calvincollege

How Do I Get Into Calvin?

You can apply to Calvin online at: www.calvin.edu/apply/

Admission Requirements for Calvin

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	considered but not required
SAT or ACT Scores	required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into Calvin?

Calvin has an acceptance rate of 73%, which means that is not quite as selective as some other schools. Still, you'll need good grades and a solid application if you want to be admitted.

Approximately 43% of accepted students are men and 57% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 72%, and the acceptance rate for women is 74%.

Average Test Scores

About 79% of students accepted to Calvin submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 550 and 650. Math scores were between 550 and 670.

Calvin received ACT scores from 43% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 23 and 32. Math scores were between 24 and 29. Composite scores were between 23 and 30.

Can I Afford Calvin University?

The overall average net price of Calvin is $34,523. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At Calvin, approximately 45% of students took out student loans averaging $8,390 a year. That adds up to $33,560 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Calvin is 1.2%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Calvin University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 3,181 undergraduate students at Calvin, with 2,914 being full-time and 267 being part-time.

There are also 126 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 2,914 full-time undergraduates at Calvin, 45% are male and 55% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Calvin University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	158
Black or African American	87
Hispanic or Latino	137
White	2,057
International Students	378
Other Races/Ethnicities	97

Geographic Diversity

Michigan students aren't the only ones who study at Calvin University. At this time, 38 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 52 countries are represented at Calvin. The most popular countries sending students to the school are South Korea, Ghana, and Canada.

Online Learning at Calvin University

In 2019-2020, 1,033 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at Calvin has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 45th most popular in Michigan for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Growth Rankings of Calvin

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Calvin University was 38.8%. This is the #776 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at Calvin regardless of major.

The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of Calvin majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.

Major	1-Year Growth Rate
Geography & Cartography	50%
Health Professions	4%
Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies	22%
Public Health	43%
Social Sciences	5%

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

Calvin University Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Associate’s	Undergraduate Certificate	Bachelor’s	Master’s	TOTAL
General Engineering	0	0	85	0	85
Nursing	0	0	80	0	80
Teacher Education Grade Specific	0	0	59	0	59
Teacher Education Subject Specific	0	0	57	0	57
Accounting	0	0	36	20	56
Communication Sciences	0	0	24	30	54
General Psychology	0	0	42	0	42
Marketing	0	0	38	0	38
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	0	0	37	0	37
Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries	19	17	1	0	37
General Biology	0	0	36	0	36
Health & Physical Education	0	0	34	0	34
Computer Science	0	0	29	0	29
Social Work	0	0	28	0	28
Economics	0	0	24	0	24
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	0	0	23	0	23
Romance Languages	0	0	21	0	21
General Education	0	0	0	19	19
Political Science & Government	0	0	17	0	17
Business Administration & Management	0	0	16	0	16
Communication & Media Studies	0	0	16	0	16
Special Education	0	0	14	0	14
Public Health	0	0	14	0	14
Design & Applied Arts	0	0	14	0	14
Writing Studies	0	0	13	0	13
Finance & Financial Management	0	0	12	0	12
East Asian Languages	0	0	12	0	12
Mathematics	0	0	12	0	12
Philosophy	0	0	12	0	12
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	0	0	11	0	11
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	0	0	11	0	11
Chemistry	0	0	9	0	9
Human Resource Management	0	0	8	0	8
Public Relations & Advertising	0	0	8	0	8
History	0	0	8	0	8
Geography & Cartography	0	0	8	0	8
International Relations & National Security	0	0	8	0	8
Germanic Languages	0	0	7	0	7
Natural Resources Conservation	0	0	7	0	7
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	0	0	6	0	6
Music	0	0	6	0	6
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology	0	0	5	0	5
Religious Studies	0	0	5	0	5
Fine & Studio Arts	0	0	5	0	5
Classical & Ancient Studies	0	0	4	0	4
Literature	0	0	3	0	3
Linguistics & Comparative Literature	0	0	3	0	3
Geological & Earth Sciences	0	0	3	0	3
Sociology	0	0	3	0	3
Computer Systems Analysis	0	0	2	0	2
Physics	0	0	2	0	2
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	0	0	0	0	0
Curriculum & Instruction	0	0	0	0	0
Area Studies	0	0	0	0	0
Statistics	0	0	0	0	0
Biological & Physical Science	0	0	0	0	0
Mathematics & Computer Science	0	0	0	0	0
Philosophy, Politics, and Economics	0	0	0	0	0
General Social Sciences	0	0	0	0	0
Drama & Theater Arts	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	19	17	938	69	1,043

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Romano1246 under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.