
Wilmington, OHprivate nonprofitwilmington.edu
Admit rate has ranged 73%–88% over the last 5 years — notably volatile. Source: IPEDS via Urban Institute.
Acceptance & SAT from Common Data Set / IPEDS; net price, earnings & graduation from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. Figures lag ~1–2 years — verify with the school.
Wilmington College, a small liberal arts school in rural Ohio, offers a hands-on, experiential education with a focus on agriculture, business, and the sciences. With an acceptance rate hovering around 85%, it attracts students who thrive in a tight-knit community where personalized attention is the norm. The campus buzzes with Quaker values of inclusivity, though weekends can feel quiet as many students head home. While graduation rates lag behind national averages, those who stick it out land mid-career earnings around $36,000—solid for a regional college where nearly every student receives financial aid.
Test-optional — scores considered if submitted
Source: IPEDS Admissions survey (2022) via Urban Institute. Covers formal factors only — it does not reflect essays, extracurriculars, or other holistic criteria.
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Outcomes & value
U.S. Dept. of Education Financial Responsibility Composite Score (FY2022-23). Scale −1.0 to 3.0; ≥1.5 meets the standard. Reported for private nonprofit & for-profit institutions only — public universities are state-backed and not scored, so this is a stability signal, not a ranking.
Median earnings by field of study (highest credential), ~2 years after completion.
Campus & location
On-campus criminal offenses classed as violent (murder/non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) for the most recent reported year. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education Campus Safety and Security (Clery Act). Counts reflect what’s reported to the school, and urban campuses often report more partly due to non-student incidents nearby — read alongside campus size and setting, not as a standalone safety verdict.
Pleasant days counts days per year with a mean temperature of 55–75°F, a high at or below 90°F, a low at or above 45°F, and little precipitation — a transparent comfort measure, not a weighting we invented. Computed from Open-Meteo ERA5 daily history (2019–2023). Natural-hazard risk is the county’s composite rating from the FEMA National Risk Index.
Institutional research volume and impact from OpenAlex. The h-index reflects large research universities and will be low for teaching-focused liberal-arts colleges — not a measure of undergraduate quality.
Mobility rate = the share of students who both start in the bottom household-income quintile and reach the top quintile; bottom → top is that chance conditional on starting at the bottom. Source: Opportunity Insights Mobility Report Cards (Chetty, Friedman, Saez, Turner & Yagan). Reflects 1980–82 birth cohorts, so it’s directional, not current.
Wilmington College maintains an accessible admissions process, accepting 84.6% of applicants according to multiple sources. The middle 50% of admitted students score between 850-1220 on the SAT (400-610 in Math) or 16-23 on the ACT—well below national averages for four-year colleges. Notably, the college doesn't require SAT/ACT scores and charges no application fee, lowering barriers to entry. About 58% of students live on campus, suggesting a residential but not overwhelmingly so culture. The admissions office emphasizes Holistic admissionsA review that weighs the whole applicant — grades, essays, activities, and context — rather than relying on test scores and GPA alone., with high school GPA being the only strict requirement.
Key stats:
Earnings = median of students working ~10 years after entry; debt = median of graduates. Value divides 10-yr earnings by one year’s net price — read it as earnings per dollar of annual cost, not a full lifetime ROI; it favors lower-cost schools. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. Figures lag ~2 years and reflect all students, not your intended major.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (field-of-study earnings). Figures cover graduates who received federal aid and lag ~2 years; not all programs report data.
This Quaker-affiliated college leans heavily into experiential learning, with popular majors reflecting its rural Ohio roots: Agriculture, Sport Management, and Criminal Justice each claim about 5% of undergraduates. Biology (6%) and Accounting (4%) round out the top programs. The curriculum blends liberal arts foundations with career-ready training—business administration appears repeatedly as a featured program. Small class sizes are the norm, though the college doesn't publish specific student-faculty ratios. Unique among small liberal arts colleges, Wilmington maintains an actual working farm as part of its agriculture program.
Standout programs:
Weekends tell the story here—while the college promotes 'vibrant student life,' multiple sources note campus quiets down as many students return home. Those who stay can join 50+ clubs or cheer on the Division III Quakers (mascot: a quail). Instagram posts show typical small-college fare: intramurals, service projects, and the occasional campus-wide mud volleyball tournament. The college actively promotes diversity initiatives, though with only 1,100 students total, niche communities are necessarily small. Housing is split 58% on-campus/42% off, with first-years required to live in dorms unless they're local.
Campus vibe:
Retention and graduation rates reveal challenges: only 55% of students graduate within six years (the standard federal metric), with men faring worse at 45%. Four-year completion rates sit at just 46%. Alumni earn median salaries of $36,427 one year out—about $10k below the national average for bachelor's holders, but reasonable given the college's regional focus and popular majors. The agriculture program likely boosts these figures; farmers and food scientists tend to find stable work in Ohio's rural economies. Career services emphasize hands-on internships, a strength for a college where many students are First-generation (first-gen)A student who would be the first in their immediate family to earn a four-year college degree. Many colleges consider this in context..
With a sticker price around $34,000 including room/board, Wilmington sits squarely in 'discount tuition' territory for private colleges. Nearly all students receive aid, bringing the average Net priceWhat a family actually pays after grants and scholarships are subtracted from the sticker price — usually far less than the published cost. down to $24,915. The college heavily promotes its net price calculator—a sign it expects cost to be a deciding factor for its predominantly middle-income student body. Merit scholarships flow freely (the 84% Acceptance rateThe share of applicants a college admits in a given year. A 10% acceptance rate means it admits about 1 in 10 applicants. suggests enrollment challenges), while Need-based aidFinancial aid awarded based on your family's ability to pay, as measured by forms like the FAFSA, rather than on achievements. leans heavily on federal loans. Agriculture students may qualify for additional state and industry-specific grants.
Wilmington carves its niche through agrarian pragmatism—this may be the only liberal arts college where you can feed livestock before philosophy class. The working farm isn't just a gimmick; it anchors a surprisingly robust agriculture program at a school smaller than many high schools. Quaker values manifest in community engagement requirements and an inclusive vibe, though the student body remains overwhelmingly white and local. For Ohioans seeking small classes with career-aligned majors (and don't mind sleepy weekends), Wilmington delivers at a price that—after aid—often undercuts state schools.