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Bowling Green State University-Main Campus Complete Information Guide

322 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
81% Acceptance Rate

This overview covers the essential stats on Bowling Green State University-Main Campus, including its rankings, majors, diversity, and more.

Want to know more about a specific stat? Just click on its tile, and you’ll go to a page that goes more in-depth on that subject. You can also use the links below to go directly to any section on this page.

* Rankings

How Does Bowling Green State University-Main Campus Stack Up?

#659 Best Colleges in Nation
#16 Best Colleges in OH
Bowling Green State University-Main Campus ranking badge

2026 Rankings

In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.

Bowling Green State University-Main Campus was awarded 322 badges in the 2026 rankings.

Overall Ranking

College Factual ranked BGSU as #659 out of 3,449 colleges and universities in the country on its 2026 Best Colleges list.

BGSU is also ranked #16 on the Best Colleges in Ohio list.

See all of the rankings for Bowling Green State University-Main Campus.

Is It Hard to Get Into Bowling Green State U-Main Campus?

81% Acceptance Rate
82% Of Accepted Are Women
21% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

The acceptance rate at Bowling Green State University-Main Campus is 81%. That’s higher than the rate at many schools, but still low enough to be considered somewhat selective. If you want to get in, you’ll need good grades and to be able to show that BGSU is a good fit for you.

Average Test Scores

About 21% of students accepted to BGSU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 500 and 610. Math scores were between 500 and 600.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Bowling Green State University-Main Campus  ( 500 to 610 )
200
800
SAT Math Scores for Bowling Green State University-Main Campus  ( 500 to 600 )
200
800

BGSU received ACT scores from 61% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 19 and 26.

ACT Composite Scores for Bowling Green State University-Main Campus  ( 19 to 26 )
1
36

Learn more about Bowling Green State University-Main Campus admissions.

Teaching Staff at Bowling Green State University-Main Campus

17 to 1 Student to Faculty
70% Full Time Teachers

Class Sizes

The student to faculty ratio at Bowling Green State University-Main Campus is about average at 17 to 1. This ratio is often used to gauge how many students might be in an average class and how much time professors will have to spend with their students on an individual level. The national average for this metric is 15 to 1.

Full-Time Instructors

When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Bowling Green State University-Main Campus is 70%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  70 out of 100
0
100

Student Success Metrics for Bowling Green State University-Main Campus

80% Freshmen Retention
63% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

Bowling Green State University-Main Campus has a freshmen retention rate of 80%. That’s a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It’s also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  80 out of 100
0
100

Academic Completion

The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is typically four years. This rate at BGSU for first-time, full-time students is 63%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  63 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Bowling Green State University-Main Campus.

Student Demographics at Bowling Green State University-Main Campus

12,255 Undergraduate Students
16.5% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
56.0% Percent Women

During the most recent academic year, there were 12,255 undergraduates at BGSU.

Get more detailed information on the diversity at Bowling Green State University-Main Campus.

Cost of Attending Bowling Green State University-Main Campus

$16,772 Net Price
48% Take Out Loans
$25,432 Total Student Loans

The overall average net price of BGSU is $16,772. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.### Net Price by Income Group for BGSU

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$15,611 $16,496 $20,316 $23,010 $23,945

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid. Note that the net price is typically less than the published price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of BGSU, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Borrowing and Loans

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At BGSU, approximately 48% of students took out student loans averaging $6,358 a year. That adds up to $25,432 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 9.8%. This is about the same as the national default rate of 10.1%. Get more details about paying for Bowling Green State University-Main Campus.

What Do Bowling Green State U-Main Campus Alumni Earn?

$47,896 Avg Salary of Grads
Average Earnings Boost

The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State U-Main Campus make about $47,896 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. This is right on par with the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year. Also, graduates in your major field may make more.

See which majors at Bowling Green State University-Main Campus make the most money.

Location of Bowling Green State University-Main Campus

Ohio State
12,255 Undergraduate Students
Town Campus Setting

Bowling Green State University-Main Campus is an public institution found in Bowling Green, Ohio. The surrounding location of Bowling Green is ideal for students who enjoy the charms of a college town. Get more details about the location of Bowling Green State University-Main Campus.

Location of Bowling Green State University-Main Campus

Get in touch with Bowling Green State U-Main Campus are listed below.

Contact Details
Address: 220 McFall Ctr, Bowling Green, OH 43403
Phone: 4183725526
Website: www.bgsu.edu
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Bowling-Green-OH/Bowling-Green-State-University/26573965003
Twitter: www.twitter.com/bgsu

Bowling Green State University-Main Campus Majors

29 Majors With Completions
8,824 Undergraduate Degrees

In the latest year of available data, students from 29 majors graduated from Bowling Green State University-Main Campus. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Completions Average Salary of Graduates
Multi-Disciplinary Studies 4,412 NA
Business Administration & Management 366 $68,026
Special Education 208 $34,875
Teacher Education Subject Specific 165 $40,627
Health & Physical Education 154 $29,770
General Psychology 149 $30,212
General Biology 148 $29,519
Writing Studies 128 $35,486
Other Education 113 $25,458
Criminal Justice & Corrections 109 $32,941

Learn more about the majors offered at Bowling Green State University-Main Campus along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at BGSU

47% Take At Least One Class Online
10% Take All Classes Online

Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.

5,785 students took at least one online class at Bowling Green State University-Main Campus.

Learn more about online learning at Bowling Green State University-Main Campus.

Comparable CollegesInterested in comparing BGSU? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare colleges on the features that matter most to you.

References and Footnotes

Footnotes

*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.

References

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