Western Kentucky University Overview
Western Kentucky University is a public institution located in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The city atmosphere of Bowling Green makes it a great place for students who enjoy having lots of educational and entertainment options.
What Is Western Kentucky University Known For?
- The doctor's degree is the highest award offered at WKU.
- In 2017-2018, 66% of the faculty were full-time.
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Western Kentucky University Rankings
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 WKU.
Awards From Around the Web
The following table lists some notable awards WKU has earned from around the web.
Rank | Ranking Name | Source |
---|---|---|
#1 | Best Technical Teacher Education Associate Degree Schools | College Factual |
#30 | Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Chemistry | College Factual |
#35 | Best Health Information/Medical Records Technology/Technician Colleges for Veterans | College Factual |
#57 | Best Health & Medical Administrative Services Associate Degree Colleges for Veterans | College Factual |
#88 | Best Nursing Associate Degree Colleges for Veterans | College Factual |
#139 | Best Health Professions Associate Degree Colleges for Veterans | College Factual |
Where Is Western Kentucky University?

Contact details for WKU are given below.
Contact Details | |
---|---|
Address: | 1906 College Heights Blvd, Bowling Green, KY 42101-1000 |
Phone: | 270-745-0111 |
Facebook: | http://www.facebook.com/WKUNews |
Twitter: | http://twitter.com/wkunews |
How Do I Get Into WKU?
You can apply to WKU online at: www.wku.edu/atwku/admissions.php
Admission Requirements for WKU
Submission | Required? |
---|---|
High School GPA | required |
High School Rank | neither required nor recommended |
High School Transcript | required |
College Prep Program | required |
Recommendations | neither required nor recommended |
SAT or ACT Scores | required |
TOEFL | required |
How Hard Is It To Get Into WKU?
Approximately 36% of accepted students are men and 64% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 97%, and the acceptance rate for women is 98%.
Average Test Scores
About 10% of students accepted to WKU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 500 and 600. Math scores were between 480 and 580.
Can I Afford Western Kentucky University?
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.
Student Loan Debt
Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At WKU, approximately 54% of students took out student loans averaging $6,946 a year. That adds up to $27,784 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at WKU is 9.3%. This is about the same as the national default rate of 10.1%.
Western Kentucky University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are also 2,231 graduate students at the school.
Gender Diversity
Of the 11,749 full-time undergraduates at WKU, 40% are male and 60% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity
The racial-ethnic breakdown of Western Kentucky University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity | Number of Grads |
---|---|
Asian | 292 |
Black or African American | 1,093 |
Hispanic or Latino | 509 |
White | 9,135 |
International Students | 184 |
Other Races/Ethnicities | 536 |
Geographic Diversity
Kentucky students aren't the only ones who study at Western Kentucky University. At this time, 30 states are represented by the student population at the school.
Over 86 countries are represented at WKU. The most popular countries sending students to the school are Saudi Arabia, China, and India.
Online Learning at Western Kentucky University
The following chart shows how the online learning population at WKU has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 3rd most popular in Kentucky for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.
Online Affordability Rankings of WKU
The following table shows how WKU 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 |
---|---|---|
General Biology | #7 | #10 |
Geography & Cartography | #8 | #11 |
General Agriculture | #10 | #7 |
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods | #10 | #13 |
Sociology | #10 | #10 |
Recreation Administration | #10 | #13 |
Criminology | #13 | #22 |
Community Organization & Advocacy | #16 | #16 |
General Social Sciences | #16 | #23 |
Biological & Biomedical Sciences | #16 | #22 |
Communication Sciences | #25 | #28 |
Mathematics & Statistics | #28 | #28 |
Mathematics | #28 | #31 |
History | #31 | #40 |
Industrial Production Technology | #31 | #42 |
History | #31 | #40 |
Agriculture & Agriculture Operations | #31 | #25 |
Human Development & Family Studies | #34 | #33 |
Management Information Systems | #37 | #58 |
Engineering-Related Fields | #52 | #58 |
Dental Support Services | #52 | #57 |
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences | #52 | #66 |
Library & Information Science | #55 | #64 |
Library Science | #55 | #64 |
Health & Medical Administrative Services | #55 | #123 |
Health Sciences & Services | #60 | #98 |
Teacher Education Subject Specific | #61 | #73 |
Online Growth Rankings of WKU
The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Western Kentucky University was 6.9%. This is the #1,494 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at WKU regardless of major.
The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of WKU majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.
The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at WKU ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at WKU.
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%.
Western Kentucky University Undergraduate Concentrations
The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.
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 OPMaster under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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