Muhlenberg College is a beautiful campus that feels like home. Students talk about constant collaboration with peers and professors, and about the sense of community here. It’s a liberal arts college whose faculty have embraced the fact that many of its students are on a pre-professional track.
Muhlenberg is very well-known for the strength of its theatre program, which is as rigorous as theatre conservatories. They are also strong in business (finance, entrepreneurial studies), communications, writing, media and the pre-med/pre-vet programs, and they are one of the few colleges with a neuroscience major. The acceptance rate to medical school is 90%.
Muhlenberg has a 93% sophomore retention rate, and an 81% four-year graduation rate. The rate goes up to 85% with just an additional semester. These numbers are very high and reflect the strong dedication to a ‘four years to the degree’ culture here.
Experiential learning is an important component of a Muhlenberg education, with dedicated alumni providing internships and jobs to students. A local small business institute gives students the opportunity to write a business plan, and some start-up business proposals are funded. Muhlenberg also has strong connections to Wall Street firms. Over half of students study abroad, and Muhlenberg operates a DC semester program for several other colleges.
About 23% of students join one of the three fraternities or four sororities, but social life does not depend on the Greek system. Most students stay on campus over the weekend (ie it’s not a commuter campus). All students take a First Year Seminar course, where they are assigned to their first faculty advisor before they declare a major. A freshman writing class is required for all majors.
I attended a student panel with five students, including one from Los Angeles. They all agreed that Muhlenberg was a warm and welcoming atmosphere, with smart students who are more collaborative than competitive. The strong theatre and music programs draw artistic students, while the business and natural science programs draw analytical students, with significant overlap. Students will tell you that classes are small, which means you can’t be anonymous and you can’t get away with not doing the work.
Muhlenberg is very honest in telling you that your chance of acceptance is greatly increased if you apply Early Decision. They fill over 40% of their class with these applicants who indicate that Muhlenberg is their first choice. Since their ED deadline isn’t until February 15 (the same as their regular decision deadline), you have the freedom to apply early to other schools before you decide whether to apply early here. The smart students, close relationships with faculty and beautiful, homey campus make Muhlenberg a great place for a California student to experience the east coast.
Evelyn visited Muhlenberg in spring, 2013, and returned for a visit in 2022 with Michelle and Chris. You can see all of their photos from both visits below the video.
Additionally, you can see tour guide Zoe talking about why she chose Muhlenberg (please ignore my finger in the lower right corner of the shot!):