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School data & stats
Outcomes
Cost
Community
Overview
Lincoln University of Pennsylvania holds the distinction of being the nation's first degree-granting historically Black university, founded in 1854 in rural Chester County between Philadelphia and Baltimore. Its history is deeply tied to the education of Black leaders in the decades before and after emancipation.
Academics
The liberal arts and sciences form the academic core, with a tradition of preparing students for graduate and professional study; Lincoln's alumni roster, including Thurgood Marshall and Langston Hughes, reflects the seriousness of its historic academic mission. Faculty-student relationships benefit from a small, close campus.
Campus & student life
The rural Chester County setting is quiet and self-contained, fostering a tight residential community with strong Black collegiate traditions and a proud sense of institutional history that students encounter from orientation onward.
Getting in
As with many HBCUs, review tends to be holistic and mission-conscious, valuing students who will contribute to and carry forward Lincoln's historic legacy, alongside standard academic criteria.
After graduation
Lincoln's alumni network carries outsized historical weight for a school its size, and the university has a long record of sending graduates into law, education, government, and the arts.
Worth knowing
The university's status as the first HBCU and its list of historically significant alumni give it a legacy and identity distinct from most other small liberal arts colleges.
Admissions
Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)
Applying
lincoln.edu ↗High school coursework
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