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Willamette University Data & Information Overview

Fair Price Value for Your Money
77% Acceptance Rate
2% Student Loan Default Rate

Get the facts about Willamette University. Learn how it ranks, what majors it offers, how diverse it is, and much more.

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* Rankings

Where Does Willamette University Rank?

#448 Best Colleges in Nation
#7 Best Colleges in OR
Willamette University ranking badge

2026 Best Colleges Rankings

College Factual recognizes the best colleges and universities in its annual rankings. These rankings include categories for best overall colleges, best colleges for each major, best value schools, and much more.

Overall Ranking

Willamette is ranked #448 out of 3,449 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual’s 2026 Best Colleges list.

Willamette also holds the #7 spot on the Best Colleges in Oregon ranking.

See all of the rankings for Willamette University.

How Difficult Is Admission to Willamette University?

77% Acceptance Rate
80% Of Accepted Are Women
18% Submit SAT Scores

Getting Accepted

Willamette University has an acceptance rate of 77%, which makes it somewhat selective. Make sure it’s not the only school you apply to, even if it’s your school of choice. Whether you get in or not will largely depend on how you compare to other applicants.

Average Test Scores

About 18% of students accepted to Willamette submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 640 and 730. Math scores were between 600 and 710.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Willamette University  ( 640 to 730 )
200
800
SAT Math Scores for Willamette University  ( 600 to 710 )
200
800

Willamette received ACT scores from 9% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 28 and 33.

ACT Composite Scores for Willamette University  ( 28 to 33 )
1
36

Learn more about Willamette University admissions.

Teaching Staff at Willamette University

13 to 1 Student to Faculty
67% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

With a student to faculty ratio of 13 to 1, Willamette 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.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

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 Willamette University is 67%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  67 out of 100
0
100

Student Success Metrics for Willamette University

86% Freshmen Retention
73% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshman Success

Willamette University has a freshmen retention rate of 86%. 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  86 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Willamette the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 73%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  73 out of 100
0
100

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

Diversity Profile of Willamette University

1,525 Undergraduate Students
29.9% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
60.6% Percent Women

In the current academic year, there are 1,525 undergraduates at Willamette.

Get more detailed information on the diversity at Willamette University.

What Does Willamette University Cost?

$16,772 Net Price
39% Take Out Loans
$23,268 Total Student Loans

The overall average net price of Willamette 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 Willamette

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$14,603 $14,977 $16,425 $24,618 $31,101

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

Student Debt

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 Willamette, approximately 39% of students took out student loans averaging $5,817 a year. That adds up to $23,268 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 2.1%. 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 Willamette University.

How Much Money Do Willamette University Graduates Make?

$56,911 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost

Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Willamette University make around $56,911 per year during the early years of their employment. That’s great news for Willamette University students since it is 16% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.

See which majors at Willamette University make the most money.

Location of Willamette University

Oregon State
1,525 Undergraduate Students
Midsize City Campus Setting

Willamette University is an private not-for-profit institution situated in Salem, Oregon. Salem is a great location for students who prefer city over country life. Get more details about the location of Willamette University.

Location of Willamette University

Contact details for Willamette University are listed below.

Contact Details
Address: 900 State St, Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 5033706300
Website: www.willamette.edu
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Willamette
Twitter: twitter.com/willamette_u

Willamette University Areas of Study

20 Majors With Completions
1,102 Undergraduate Degrees

In the latest year of available data, students from 20 majors graduated from Willamette 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 551 NA
Law 110 $53,741
Business Administration & Management 83 $66,562
Data Science. 41 NA
Economics 32 $31,509
Political Science & Government 31 $33,011
General Psychology 20 $20,615
Natural Resources Conservation 19 $25,204
Computer Science 18 NA
Cultural Studies & Analysis 17 NA

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

Comparable CollegesCurious how schools stack up against Willamette? Compare them side by side using College Combat, a free interactive tool for comparing colleges on the features you care about.

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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