Western Michigan University Overview
Western Michigan University is a public institution located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life.
What Is Western Michigan University Known For?
- The doctor's degree is the highest award offered at WMU.
- For the 2017-2018 academic year, 63% of the faculty were full-time.
- Students who graduate from WMU with a bachelor's degree make about $45,000 a year. That's 10% more than those who graduate from other schools.
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Western Michigan 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 WMU.
Awards From Around the Web
The following table lists some notable awards WMU has earned from around the web.
Rank | Ranking Name | Source |
---|---|---|
#9 | Best Value Colleges for Design & Applied Arts | College Factual |
#24 | Best Value Colleges for Communication & Journalism | College Factual |
#34 | Best Value Colleges for Biological & Biomedical Sciences | College Factual |
#34 | Best Value Colleges for Visual & Performing Arts | College Factual |
#46 | Best Value Colleges for Psychology | College Factual |
#84 | Best Value Colleges for Business, Management & Marketing | College Factual |
Where Is Western Michigan University?

Contact details for WMU are given below.
Contact Details | |
---|---|
Address: | 1903 W Michigan Ave, Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5200 |
Phone: | 269-387-1000 |
Website: | https://wmich.edu/ |
Facebook: | http://www.facebook.com/wmich |
Twitter: | http://twitter.com/wmunews |
How Do I Get Into WMU?
You can apply to WMU online at: https://wmich.edu/apply/
Admission Requirements for WMU
Submission | Required? |
---|---|
High School GPA | required |
High School Rank | neither required nor recommended |
High School Transcript | required |
College Prep Program | recommended |
Recommendations | neither required nor recommended |
SAT or ACT Scores | required |
TOEFL | required |
How Hard Is It To Get Into WMU?
Approximately 46% of accepted students are men and 54% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 81%, and the acceptance rate for women is 83%.
Average Test Scores
About 69% of students accepted to WMU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 490 and 600. Math scores were between 470 and 590.
Can I Afford Western Michigan University?
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.
Student Loan Debt
It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At WMU, approximately 76% of students took out student loans averaging $7,792 a year. That adds up to $31,168 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at WMU is 7.0%. Although this is lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, you'll still want to keep this in mind when taking out student loans.
Western Michigan University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are also 4,802 graduate students at the school.
Gender Diversity
Of the 14,983 full-time undergraduates at WMU, 52% are male and 48% are female.

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

Race/Ethnicity | Number of Grads |
---|---|
Asian | 312 |
Black or African American | 1,687 |
Hispanic or Latino | 1,072 |
White | 10,225 |
International Students | 928 |
Other Races/Ethnicities | 759 |
Geographic Diversity
Michigan students aren't the only ones who study at Western Michigan University. At this time, 28 states are represented by the student population at the school.
Over 94 countries are represented at WMU. The most popular countries sending students to the school are Saudi Arabia, India, and China.
Online Learning at Western Michigan University
The following chart shows how the online learning population at WMU has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 25th most popular in Michigan for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2017-2018.
Online Growth Rankings of WMU
The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Western Michigan University was 6.5%. This is the #1,560 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at WMU regardless of major.
The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of WMU majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.
Major | 1-Year Growth Rate |
---|---|
Air Transportation | 1% |
Alternative Medicine & Systems | 50% |
Computer & Information Sciences | 7% |
Educational Administration | 14% |
Gerontology | 50% |
Transportation & Materials Moving | 1% |
The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at WMU 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 WMU.
Major | Growth Rate Rank | |
---|---|---|
Dance | #2 | |
Alternative Medicine & Systems | #4 | |
Gerontology | #19 | |
Mental & Social Health Services | #45 | |
Visual & Performing Arts | #64 | |
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies | #70 | |
Instructional Media Design | #92 | |
Teacher Education Subject Specific | #135 | |
Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies | #140 | |
Educational Administration | #183 | |
Nursing | #341 | |
Education | #434 |
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 Michigan 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 TheKuLeR under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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