Washington & Jefferson embodies the work hard, play hard attitude. The 1,400 student liberal arts college in small town Pennsylvania is best know for its preprofessional programs in medicine and law. The 60 acre campus has many impressive buildings one of which being the Swanson Science Center which houses the physics, chemistry, and biochemistry departments. Classes are challenging and competitive with most students ranking in the top quarter of their high school. The school has standard general education requirements like many other liberal arts school however, rare among liberal arts colleges are the 3–4 programs with the Pennsylvania Colleges of Optometry and Podiatry that students have the opportunity to enroll into. More technically minded students can take advantage of the 3–2 engineering programs with Case Western Reserve and Washington University in St. Louis.
Diversity is something W&J is working on. Currently, only 14.7% of the student population are minorities; only 22% of the students come from out of state; and just 5% of the population is international. However enticing scholarships and financial aid packages are changing that trend. In 2016, the average financial aid package for incoming first year was $35,900 per year. Social life takes place on campus for the majority where greek life is highly prominent. A nonalcoholic pub called George & Tom’s has become quite a popular diversion with comedy, musical, and novelty/variety acts.
With strong academic programs, state of the art facilities, and ever increasing impetus on diversity; W&J is becoming a big name in the liberal arts circuit.
The class profile for the enrollment in 2016-17 can be found here