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Ouachita Baptist University Comprehensive Profile

Fair Price Value for Your Money
68% Acceptance Rate
6% Student Loan Default Rate

This overview covers the essential stats on Ouachita Baptist University, including its rankings, majors, diversity, and more.

If you’re interested in learning more about a particular stat, just click on its tile to go to a new page that covers the topic more in-depth. Also, you can jump to any section of this page by clicking one of the links below.

* Rankings

How Well Is Ouachita Baptist University Ranked?

#1,020 Best Colleges in Nation
#5 Best Colleges in AR
Ouachita Baptist University ranking badge

2026 Best Colleges 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.

Overall Quality

According to College Factual’s 2026 analysis, OBU is ranked #1,020 out of 3,449 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality.

Within the state, OBU holds the #5 spot on the Best Colleges in Arkansas ranking.

See all of the rankings for Ouachita Baptist University.

What Are the Admission Requirements for Ouachita Baptist University?

68% Acceptance Rate
68% Of Accepted Are Women
15% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

The acceptance rate at Ouachita Baptist University is a competitive 68%, so make sure you take your application seriously when putting it together. Even leaving out a minor detail could be a reason to move you to the rejection pile.

SAT and ACT Scores

About 15% of students accepted to OBU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 540 and 650. Math scores were between 530 and 630.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Ouachita Baptist University  ( 540 to 650 )
200
800
SAT Math Scores for Ouachita Baptist University  ( 530 to 630 )
200
800

OBU received ACT scores from 74% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 22 and 28.

ACT Composite Scores for Ouachita Baptist University  ( 22 to 28 )
1
36

Learn more about Ouachita Baptist University admissions.

Instructors at Ouachita Baptist University

14 to 1 Student to Faculty
95% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

With a student to faculty ratio of 14 to 1, Ouachita Baptist University is about average in this regard as the nationwide rate is 15 to 1. While this does not translate directly to class size, it’s a good indicator of how much time professors will have to spend with their students on a one-on-one basis.

Full-Time Instructors

Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.

The full-time faculty percentage at Ouachita Baptist University is 95%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  95 out of 100
0
100

Student Success Metrics for Ouachita Baptist University

83% Freshmen Retention
70% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

Ouachita Baptist University has a freshmen retention rate of 83%. 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  83 out of 100
0
100

Academic Completion

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At OBU the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 70%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  70 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Ouachita Baptist University.

Student Demographics at Ouachita Baptist University

1,612 Undergraduate Students
16.7% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
55.9% Percent Women

The current enrollment includes 1,612 undergraduates at OBU.

Get more detailed information on the diversity at Ouachita Baptist University.

Cost of Attending Ouachita Baptist University

$16,772 Net Price
46% Take Out Loans
$21,976 Total Student Loans

The overall average net price of OBU 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 OBU

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$19,709 $19,326 $20,813 $23,238 $23,523

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 OBU, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Debt

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At OBU, approximately 46% of students took out student loans averaging $5,494 a year. That adds up to $21,976 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 5.5%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you’ll be able to pay back your student loans. Get more details about paying for Ouachita Baptist University.

Post-Graduation Earnings for Ouachita Baptist University

$51,673 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 Ouachita Baptist University make about $51,673 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 Ouachita Baptist University make the most money.

Location of Ouachita Baptist University

Arkansas State
1,612 Undergraduate Students
Town Campus Setting

Ouachita Baptist University is an private not-for-profit institution located in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Arkadelphia is a good match for students who enjoy small-town life. Get more details about the location of Ouachita Baptist University.

Location of Ouachita Baptist University

Get in touch with Ouachita Baptist University are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 410 Ouachita St, Arkadelphia, AR 71998-0001
Phone: 8702455000
Website: www.obu.edu
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ouachita
Twitter: twitter.com/ouachita

Ouachita Baptist University Areas of Study

23 Majors With Completions
828 Undergraduate Degrees

In the latest year of available data, students from 23 majors graduated from Ouachita Baptist University. 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 414 NA
Nursing 38 NA
General Biology 37 NA
Finance & Financial Management 23 $51,579
Communication & Media Studies 23 $30,498
Teacher Education Grade Specific 21 $33,047
Health & Physical Education 21 NA
General Psychology 20 $22,174
Clinical & Counseling Psychology 16 NA
Business Administration & Management 14 NA

Learn more about the majors offered at Ouachita Baptist University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at OBU

20% Take At Least One Class Online
1% 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.

316 students took at least one online class at Ouachita Baptist University.

Learn more about online learning at Ouachita Baptist University.

Similar InstitutionsWant to see how other colleges compare to OBU? Compare them side by side using College Combat, our free tool for head-to-head college comparisons.

Notes and References

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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