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Summary
Gettysburg College is a private institution that was founded in 1832. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 2,494, its setting is suburban, and the campus size is 230 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Gettysburg College's ranking in the 2013 edition of Best Colleges is National Liberal Arts Colleges, 46. Its tuition and fees are $44,210 (2012-13).
Thirty years before gunshots would ring across campus, the school now known as Gettysburg College was founded in Pennsylvania. The school is adjacent to the Gettysburg National Military Park, site of a pivotal Civil War matchup between the Union and Confederate armies and where Abraham Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg Address. Today, the town of Gettysburg is a popular tourist landmark, so students at Gettysburg College have plenty of dining, shopping, and entertainment options to check out. On campus, there are about 120 student clubs and organizations, and Gettysburg has nearly 20 fraternities and sororities, which more than 40 percent of students join. Freshmen must live on campus, and will be assigned a room near others in the same First-Year Seminar or writing course. Ninety percent of all students opt to live on campus, and sophomores, juniors, and seniors are assigned housing through a lottery system. Living on campus puts students in close proximity to The Attic, the school’s night club. Athletes play on the Gettysburg Bullets in the NCAA Division III Centennial Conference. For a different kind of workout, students can go on hiking, kayaking, and climbing trips run through Gettysburg Recreational Activity Board. GRAB, as it is known for short, also coordinates student- and faculty-led expedition trips around the world, including sea kayaking in Alaska and and hiking the Austrian Alps. GRAB trips are open to Gettysburg students, alumni, parents of students, and faculty members. For closer trips from campus, students can get to Baltimore in an hour, Washington in an hour and a half, and Philadelphia in two hours.
Undergraduate students can get a feel for career life through the school’s Bright Lights! Big City! program. Students take three-day trips to Washington, Boston, Philadelphia, and New York to attend company presentations, meet with prominent alumni, and work together on case studies. Students can also complete weeklong externships as early as freshman year. Externship opportunities are found across the country, and the Gettysburg Center for Career Development pays for any transportation costs. Students interested in history don’t have far to go for an internship, though, with opportunities at nearby landmarks like the Gettysburg National Military Park and Antietam National Battlefield. Notable alumni of Gettysburg College include Ron Paul, a politician and frequent presidential candidate; Joe Carbone, a coach for the Los Angeles Lakers; and Carson Kressley, star of the former television hit Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
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Gettysburg College, a national, residential, undergraduate college committed to a liberal education, prepares students to be active leaders and participants in a changing world. This statement is grounded in the core values of the institution: the worth and dignity of all people and the limitless value of their intellectual potential; the power of a liberal arts education to help students develop critical thinking skills, broad vision, effective communications, a sense of the inter-relatedness of all knowledge, sensitivity to the human condition, and a global perspective, all necessary to enable students to realize their full potential for responsible citizenship; the enrichment of the traditional liberal arts and sciences curriculum with the most promising intellectual developments of the age; the free and open marketplace of ideas and the exploration of the ethical and spiritual dimensions of those ideas, both indispensable to helping students learn to determine which have lasting value; the value of a lifelong commitment to service, and the role of the College in both providing an example of public service for students and fostering a commitment to service among our young people; and a belief that a residential college is the most effective means of promoting the personal interaction between student and professor, and student and student which develops the community that is the heart of a liberal arts education. The Gettysburg Review, published by Gettysburg College, is recognized as one of the country's best literary journals. The journal has won numerous prizes, including a Best New Journal award and four Best Journal Design awards from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals. The Lincoln Prize in the amount of $50,000 is annually awarded for the year's best works on Abraham Lincoln or the American Civil War soldier, or a subject relating to their era by Gettysburg College and Gilder Lehrman Institute. Gettysburg's Sunderman Conservatory of Music combines the College's liberal arts and music traditions. Music becomes the lens through which students get a rich, full, and well-rounded education. Gettysburg Semester is a total-immersion semester in Civil War studies--academic courses, internships with the Civil War-related agencies and live in a Civil War theme residence. The Contemporary Laboratory Experience in Astronomy (CLEA)develops laboratory exercises that illustrate modern astronomical techniques using digital data and color images suitable for high-school and college classes at all levels. CLEA labs have enjoyed widespread use by astronomy students and faculty throughout the U.S. and around the world. Advancing Science another outreach program gives Pennsylvania students from kindergarten through grade 12 opportunities to learn science by doing science. A collaboration between the Gettysburg biology department and Pennsylvania schools. The Eisenhower Institute is a program of Gettysburg College, the Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit, presidential legacy organization that develops and sponsors civic discourse on significant issues of domestic and international public policy. The Institute provides a number of national scholarships and fellowships for students, our future leaders, to participate in dialogue with prominent figures and to pursue study of public policy and related fields. |
General Information
| School type | private, coed college |
| Year founded | 1832 |
| Religious affiliation | Lutheran |
| Academic calendar | semester |
| Setting | suburban |
| 2011 Endowment | $245,889,239 |
Applying
When applying to Gettysburg College, it's important to note the application deadline is February 1, and the early decision deadline is November 15. Scores for either the ACT or SAT test are due February 1. The application fee at Gettysburg College is $55. It is more selective, with an acceptance rate of 39.9 percent.
For more information about the tests, essays, interviews, and admissions process, visit the Applying to College knowledge center.
| Selectivity | more selective |
| Fall 2011 acceptance rate | 39.9% |
| Application deadline | February 1 |
| SAT/ACT scores must be received by | February 1 |
Academic Life
The student-faculty ratio at Gettysburg College is 10:1, and the school has 68.7 percent of its classes with fewer than 20 students. The most popular majors at Gettysburg College include: Social Sciences, General; Biology/Biological Sciences, General; Business/Commerce, General; English Language and Literature, General; and Psychology, General. The average freshman retention rate, an indicator of student satisfaction, is 91.0 percent.
Student Life
Gettysburg College has a total undergraduate enrollment of 2,494, with a gender distribution of 48.4 percent male students and 51.6 percent female students. At this school, 92.0 percent of the students live in college-owned, -operated, or -affiliated housing and 6.0 percent of students live off campus. Gettysburg College is part of the NCAA III athletic conference.
See what students are saying about life at Gettysburg College.
| Total enrollment | 2,494 |
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| Collegiate athletic association | NCAA III |
Campus Info & Services
Gettysburg College offers a number of student services including nonremedial tutoring, women's center, placement service, and health service. Gettysburg College also offers campus safety and security services like 24-hour foot and vehicle patrols, late night transport/escort service, 24-hour emergency telephones, lighted pathways/sidewalks, and controlled dormitory access (key, security card, etc). Of the students at Gettysburg College, 60 percent have cars on campus. Alcohol is permitted for students of legal age at Gettysburg College.
| Students who have cars on campus | 60% |
| Health insurance offered | No |
| Students required to own/lease a computer | No |
More About Campus Info & Services
Paying for School
At Gettysburg College, 54.4 percent of full-time undergraduates receive some kind of need-based financial aid and the average need-based scholarship or grant award is $28,379.
Paying for college doesn't have to be difficult or devastating. Go to the Paying for College knowledge center to get advice on raising cash and reducing costs.
| Tuition and fees | $44,210 (2012-13) |
| Room and board | $10,560 (2012-13) |
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* Overview details based on 2011 data
