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West Chester University of Pennsylvania

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West Chester University of Pennsylvania Overview

Located in West Chester, Pennsylvania, West Chester University of Pennsylvania is a public institution. West Chester is a good match for students who enjoy the safety and convenience of the suburbs.

What Is West Chester University of Pennsylvania Known For?

3,388 Undergraduate Awards
$33,536 Avg Cost After Aid
86% Acceptance Rate
  • The 4% student loan default rate at WCUPA 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 doctor's degree is the highest award offered at WCUPA.
  • In 2017-2018, 71% of the faculty were full-time.
  • Students who graduate from WCUPA with a bachelor's degree make about $48,400 a year. That's 19% more than those who graduate from other schools.

Best Schools

West Chester University of Pennsylvania Rankings

WCUPA landed the #312 spot in our 2022 ranking of best colleges. We analyzed 2,587 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. This puts it in the top 15% of all schools in the nation. It is also ranked #27 out of 134 schools in Pennsylvania.

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

WCUPA has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank Ranking Name Share
#80 Best Doctor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

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

Rank Ranking Name Share
#1 Best Holocaust Studies Graduate Certificate Schools Tweet It - Post It
#1 Best Movement & Mind-Body Therapies Graduate Certificate Schools Tweet It - Post It
#4 Best Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#9 Best Music Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#17 Best Special Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#27 Best Visual & Performing Arts Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#56 Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#56 Best Biological & Biomedical Sciences Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#69 Best Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#86 Best Law Enforcement & Firefighting Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

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

Rank Ranking Name Source
#9 Best Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services Schools College Factual
#28 Best Special Education Schools College Factual
#54 Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Schools College Factual
#66 Best Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting Schools College Factual
#111 Best Education Schools College Factual
#120 Best Teaching Schools Teaching Degree Search

Where Is West Chester University of Pennsylvania?

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Contact details for WCUPA are given below.

Contact Details
Address: University Avenue And High Street, West Chester, PA 19383
Phone: 610-436-1000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WCUPA
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wcuofpa

How Do I Get Into WCUPA?

You can apply to WCUPA online at: https://www.wcupa.edu/_admissions/sch_adm/applynow/

Admission Requirements for WCUPA

Submission Required?
High School GPA recommended
High School Rank recommended
High School Transcript required
College Prep Program required
Recommendations neither required nor recommended
SAT or ACT Scores required
TOEFL recommended

How Hard Is It To Get Into WCUPA?

86% Acceptance Rate
65% Of Accepted Are Women
90% Submit SAT Scores
Since WCUPA has an acceptance rate of 86%, it is not too hard to gain acceptance into the school. Still, you need to be sure you complete your application in full and send in any other requested documents.

Approximately 35% of accepted students are men and 65% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 83%, and the acceptance rate for women is 88%.

Average Test Scores

About 90% of students accepted to WCUPA submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 510 and 600. Math scores were between 500 and 580.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for West Chester University of Pennsylvania  ( 510 to 600 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for West Chester University of Pennsylvania  ( 500 to 580 )
200
800
WCUPA received ACT scores from 9% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 19 and 26. Math scores were between 18 and 25. Composite scores were between 20 and 26.

ACT English Scores for West Chester University of Pennsylvania  ( 19 to 26 )
1
36
ACT Math Scores for West Chester University of Pennsylvania  ( 18 to 25 )
1
36
ACT Composite Scores for West Chester University of Pennsylvania  ( 20 to 26 )
1
36

Can I Afford West Chester University of Pennsylvania?

$33,536 Net Price
70% Take Out Loans
4.4% Loan Default Rate
The overall average net price of WCUPA is $33,536. 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 WCUPA, approximately 70% of students took out student loans averaging $9,316 a year. That adds up to $37,264 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at WCUPA is 4.4%. 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.

West Chester University of Pennsylvania Undergraduate Student Diversity

13,056 Full-Time Undergraduates
60% Women
23% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
There are 14,712 undergraduate students at WCUPA, with 13,056 being full-time and 1,656 being part-time.

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There are also 3,007 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 13,056 full-time undergraduates at WCUPA, 40% are male and 60% are female.

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Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of West Chester University of Pennsylvania students is as follows.

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Race/Ethnicity Number of Grads
Asian 329
Black or African American 1,389
Hispanic or Latino 769
White 9,772
International Students 31
Other Races/Ethnicities 766

Geographic Diversity

Pennsylvania students aren't the only ones who study at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. At this time, 14 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 51 countries are represented at WCUPA. The most popular countries sending students to the school are India, China, and Norway.

Online Learning at West Chester University of Pennsylvania

15,729 Took All Classes Online
17,544 Took At Least One Class Online
263.3% Avg Growth Over 4 Years
In 2019-2020, 17,544 students took at least one online class at the school.

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

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This school is the 28th most popular in Pennsylvania for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of WCUPA

The following table shows how WCUPA is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major Tuition for In-State Students Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Education Philosophy #4 #7
Linguistics & Comparative Literature #4 #4
Food, Nutrition & Related Services #13 #10
Foreign Languages & Linguistics #13 #16
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences #58 #40
Human Resource Management #64 #90

Online Affordability Rankings of WCUPA Rankings

The following table shows how WCUPA is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are mostly online.

Major Tuition for In-State Students Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Education Philosophy #1 #1
Food, Nutrition & Related Services #4 #10
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences #16 #16
Human Resource Management #28 #137
Special Education #38 #55
Teacher Education Grade Specific #40 #49

Online Growth Rankings of WCUPA

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at West Chester University of Pennsylvania was 263.3%. This is the #237 largest growth rate of all schools that are mostly online. This refers to all students at WCUPA regardless of major.

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

Major 1-Year Growth Rate
Communication & Journalism 88%
Education Philosophy 13%
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences 13%
Food, Nutrition & Related Services 13%
Geography & Cartography 51%
Human Resource Management 73%
Instructional Media Design 47%
Public Administration 18%
Public Administration & Social Service 10%
Social Sciences 10%
Teacher Education Subject Specific 4%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at WCUPA ranks compared to all other mostly online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at WCUPA.

Major Growth Rate Rank
Publishing #1
Entrepreneurial Studies #1
Education Philosophy #1
Geography & Cartography #1
Food, Nutrition & Related Services #7
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services #7
Public Relations & Advertising #8
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences #11
General Business/Commerce #13
Public Administration #13
Instructional Media Design #19
Social Sciences #19
Human Resource Management #20
Teacher Education Grade Specific #28
Public Administration & Social Service #28
Teacher Education Subject Specific #30
Communication & Journalism #31
Special Education #37
Nursing #38
Education #91
Business Administration & Management #94
Health Professions #103
Business, Management & Marketing #133

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%.

West Chester University of Pennsylvania Undergraduate Concentrations

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

Major Bachelor’s Graduate Certificate Master’s Doctor’s TOTAL
Business Administration & Management 219 95 231 0 545
General Psychology 236 0 35 0 271
Teacher Education Grade Specific 242 0 24 0 266
General Sales & Marketing 216 0 0 0 216
Finance & Financial Management 211 0 0 0 211
Social Work 60 0 128 0 188
Health & Physical Education 168 10 8 0 186
Writing Studies 176 0 4 0 180
Special Education 119 4 49 0 172
Criminal Justice & Corrections 142 0 25 0 167
Nursing 143 0 11 8 162
Liberal Arts General Studies 161 0 0 0 161
Accounting 131 0 0 0 131
Communication Sciences 98 0 27 0 125
Public Health 69 0 55 0 124
General Biology 103 0 7 0 110
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services 100 8 0 0 108
Computer Information Systems 97 0 6 0 103
General English Literature 83 0 20 0 103
Music 71 1 20 0 92
Mathematics 62 0 10 0 72
Public Administration 0 11 42 15 68
Business/Managerial Economics 64 0 0 0 64
Information Technology 0 61 0 0 61
Teacher Education Subject Specific 0 9 47 0 56
Human Resource Management 0 15 37 0 52
Allied Health Professions 25 0 22 0 47
Student Counseling 0 1 45 0 46
Political Science & Government 46 0 0 0 46
Geography & Cartography 7 21 17 0 45
Educational Administration 0 3 32 9 44
History 37 0 7 0 44
Health Sciences & Services 40 0 0 0 40
Geological & Earth Sciences 28 0 10 0 38
Statistics 0 0 35 0 35
Fine & Studio Arts 33 0 0 0 33
Food, Nutrition & Related Services 0 0 31 0 31
Urban & Regional Planning 16 5 5 0 26
Linguistics & Comparative Literature 17 0 9 0 26
Health & Medical Administrative Services 0 26 0 0 26
International Business 22 0 0 0 22
Physics 19 0 0 0 19
Philosophy 7 0 11 0 18
Sociology 18 0 0 0 18
Instructional Media Design 0 17 0 0 17
Ethnic Studies 17 0 0 0 17
Mental & Social Health Services 0 0 17 0 17
Entrepreneurial Studies 0 16 0 0 16
Health/Medical Prep Programs 16 0 0 0 16
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences 16 0 0 0 16
Drama & Theater Arts 16 0 0 0 16
Communication & Media Studies 15 0 0 0 15
Chemistry 14 0 0 0 14
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology 0 14 0 0 14
Gerontology 0 11 0 0 11
Education Philosophy 0 0 8 0 8
Teaching English or French 0 3 5 0 8
Anthropology 6 0 0 0 6
Movement & Mind-Body Therapies 0 5 0 0 5
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions 2 1 0 0 3
Publishing 0 2 0 0 2
Romance Languages 0 0 2 0 2
Holocaust Studies 0 2 0 0 2
Information Science 0 1 0 0 1
Religious Studies 0 0 1 0 1
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology 0 0 0 0 0
General Business/Commerce 0 0 0 0 0
Public Relations & Advertising 0 0 0 0 0
Biomedical Engineering 0 0 0 0 0
Germanic Languages 0 0 0 0 0
Slavic, Baltic & Albanian Languages 0 0 0 0 0
Applied Mathematics 0 0 0 0 0
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 3,388 342 1,043 32 4,805

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.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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