Wheaton College

Quick Stats

501 College Avenue
Wheaton, IL 60187: [map]

Phone: (630) 752-5000

2011-2012 Tuition

$28,960: tuition and fees

Students

2,434: enrolled

49%: male /

51%: female

Admissions

Jan. 10: application deadline

66.0%: accepted

More Information

_

U.S. News Rankings

Ranking score and category

U.S. News rank	Category Name
#57	National Liberal Arts Colleges

More About U.S. News Rankings

Summary

Wheaton College is a private institution that was founded in 1860. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 2,434, its setting is suburban, and the campus size is 80 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Wheaton College's ranking in the 2012 edition of Best Colleges is National Liberal Arts Colleges, 57. Its tuition and fees are $28,960 (2011-12).

Based in Wheaton, Ill., Wheaton College is a Christian liberal arts school where it says “the pursuit of faith and learning is taken seriously.” The college believes academic excellence, Christian commitment, and leadership are the essential ingredients to a liberal arts education. Freshmen are welcomed into the school with an orientation that includes multiple lunches with current students, a formal event with the faculty, and a sightseeing trip to Chicago, which is 25 miles east of the campus. Wheaton College believes in four building blocks for an education: attending classes, going to chapel, participating in extracurricular activities, and living on campus. Students are required to live on campus during their career at Wheaton and can choose to live in residence halls, campus apartments, or campus houses. The Wheaton College Thunder are members of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin in the NCAA Division III.

Wheaton College offers students multiple off-campus study opportunities. The college sponsors study abroad programs in Asia, England, France, and Spain, among others. It houses a Science Station in Rapid City, S.D. for students interested in field instruction in the natural sciences. For students interested in music, the Conservatory of Music at Wheaton College is internationally recognized and is fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. In honor of one of its most notable alumni, Christian evangelist Billy Graham, the Billy Graham Center is the primary location for a majority of Bible and theology classes and the site of multiple museums and auditoriums. The college uses this center to share its faith and beliefs with campus visitors. Other notable alumni of the school include horror film director Wes Craven, symphony conductor John Nelson, and former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

School mission (as provided by the school):

Established in 1860 as a co-ed institution, Wheaton College is a private, residential and interdenominational Christian liberal arts college, where the pursuit of faith and learning is taken seriously. With a mission to "develop whole and effective Christians," Wheaton is committed to being a community that fearlessly pursues God's Truth, invests in developing well-rounded students, and prepares graduates to make a difference in the world. The influence of Wheaton is seen in fields ranging from government (former Speaker of the US House of Representatives), to sports (two NBA coaches), to business (the CEO of John Deere), to the arts (Metropolitan Opera National Competition winners), to education (30-plus college presidents or provosts), to global ministry (Billy Graham). Wheaton seeks students who want to make a difference and are passionate about their Christian faith and rigorous academic pursuit.

General Information

School type	private, coed college
Year founded	1860
Religious affiliation	Christian nondenominational
Academic calendar	semester
Setting	suburban
2010 Endowment	$273,727,520

Applying

When applying to Wheaton College, it's important to note the application deadline is January 10, and the early action deadline is November 1. Scores for either the ACT or SAT test are due January 10. The application fee at Wheaton College is $50. It is more selective, with an acceptance rate of 66.0 percent and an early acceptance rate of 62.3 percent.

For more information about the tests, essays, interviews, and admissions process, visit the Applying to College knowledge center.

Selectivity	more selective
Fall 2010 acceptance rate	66%
Application deadline	January 10
SAT/ACT scores must be received by	January 10

More About Applying

Academic Life

The student-faculty ratio at Wheaton College is 12:1, and the school has 57.8 percent of its classes with fewer than 20 students. The most popular majors at Wheaton College include: Social Sciences; Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services; English Language and Literature/Letters; Visual and Performing Arts; and Education. The average freshman retention rate, an indicator of student satisfaction, is 95.5 percent.

Class sizes

Student-faculty ratio

12:1

4-year graduation rate

79% - High

Five most popular majors for 2010 graduates

Social Sciences	17%
Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services	11%
English Language and Literature/Letters	9%
Visual and Performing Arts	9%
Education	7%

More About Academic Life

Student Life

Wheaton College has a total undergraduate enrollment of 2,434, with a gender distribution of 49.1 percent male students and 50.9 percent female students. 90.0 percent of the students live in college-owned, -operated, or -affiliated housing and 10.0 percent of students live off campus. Wheaton College is part of the NCAA III athletic conference.

See what students are saying about life at Wheaton College.

Total enrollment	3,026
Student gender distribution

Undergraduate men who are members of a fraternity

Undergraduate women who are members of a sorority

Collegiate athletic association	NCAA III

More About Student Life

Campus Info & Services

Wheaton College offers a number of student services including health service and health insurance. Wheaton 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, student patrols, and controlled dormitory access (key, security card, etc). Of the students at Wheaton College, 32 percent have cars on campus. Alcohol is not permitted for students of legal age at Wheaton College.

Students who have cars on campus	32% - Low
Health insurance offered	Yes
Students required to own/lease a computer	No

More About Campus Info & Services

Paying for School

At Wheaton College, 52.3 percent of full-time undergraduates receive some kind of need-based financial aid and the average need-based scholarship or grant award is $16,029.

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	$28,960 (2011-12)
Room and board	$8,220 (2011-12) - Medium
Financial aid statistics

More About Paying for School

Student Reviews Ratings data provided by Unigo

Now I love Wheaton but that wasn't always true. My freshman year I struggled alot. I wasn't happy there and I wanted to transfer. In the end, most of that was my own fault. I'm a shy person and I didn't reach out to make friends. I had never moved far away and had to make new friends before so I didn't know what I was doing. I basically shut down and didn't let people in and just focused on getting good grades. That, ultimately, is not a fulfilling lifestyle. This year was so much better. I changed what activities I was involved in, not because my old ones were bad, just because I needed a change somewhere and that was all I could think to do. Because of this, I had more time for people and I spent this year making some great friends and really investing in them. The people at Wheaton are amazing! If you take the time to get to know them and really go deep in your conversations, you'll find incredible friends. My friends are like my family now and saying goodbye to them for the summer was really hard. We sit up late almost every night talking about life and about what we want to do. When the weather is nice we play outside. When it's not nice (sadly, most of the time), we stay inside and talk, eat, play music, or play games together. Our little group is like a little community and we really rely on each other on a daily basis. This is the kind of community I was looking for when I came to Wheaton. It took me awhile to find it but once I did it was so worth it and I wouldn't transfer for anything!

Emily Sophomore

Wheaton's great if you like the conveniences of a nearby large city with the security and quaintness of a wealthy suburban neighborhood. Recently there has been a big controversy on campus that has made national news. The school has a policy that if a faculty or staff member is going through a divorce, they must talk about it with the administration. Well, a very popular professor on campus recently resigned because he didn't want to talk about a divorce he is going through. It's a difficult situation because no one wants him to leave, and no one thinks he should have to. In my opinion, the rule is in place because we are at a Christian institution and employees are expected to live up to or at least try to live up to Christ's standards. Now, I certainly don't think a divorce should cause someone to be fired, but I definitely think it isn't unreasonable to request that the employee talk about his divorce. How else would you know if a prof was just running away from his wife and children to marry some young, former student or something of the sort? At a Christian institution you have to have boundaries somewhere.

Kent Junior

Wheaton, first of all, is gorgeous. When people come to visit, they often either come in the fall or spring; in the fall, beautiful flowers fill the potting beds, the weather is just right, and the sun shines plenty. In the spring, tulips and violets are pushing up everywhere, just about every tree manages to bloom, and even the occasional thunderstorm make the place more wonderful. The students know the truth. The winter - six of the eight months at Wheaton - is brutally cold and not all the pretty. In many ways, that's how the time at Wheaton is. At first, it's the fall - where everything that's been planted in the past years of your life seem to fit just right. And when you leave, honestly, it seems like everything is blooming and blossoming and coming out just right. But between the coming and going lies a few years of a lot of confusion. It's taking strong, conservative Christian values and learning to live a real broken, hurt and twisted world with them. It's falling in love with God while trying to forgive your roommate for hurting you in a way. It's realizing that Wheaton, with all the beauty and perfection, is full of real people who often get in the way of the beauty. Things seem almost too good to be true - a perfect college town, really built up around the college, a beautiful campus, so very close to Chicago, Professors who seem to be the best people in the world, and students who are bright and attractive. But, like always, brokenness will get in the way and lead to disenchantment. Very, very quickly. I love Wheaton.

Dave Alum

More student reviews

* Overview details based on 2010 data

_

Summary

General Information

What will be your primary resource to help pay for college?