Baldwin Wallace University

Private · Moderately Selective · OH

Photo: Erik Drost (CC BY 2.0)

School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationOH · Midwest

SettingSuburban

Undergrads2,842

Student:faculty12:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate56.7%

6-yr grad rate66.8%

Drop-out rate16.2%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$40k

Out-of-state tuition$40k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity23.5%

Gender diversity54.2%

International0.4%

Identity—

Overview

Baldwin Wallace University is a private university in Berea, Ohio, southwest of Cleveland, with historical ties to the Methodist church that still inform its identity, if more loosely than in the past. It combines a liberal arts core with a set of genuinely distinctive professional and arts programs, most notably in music.

Academics

The Conservatory of Music is Baldwin Wallace's signature academic unit and carries a national reputation, particularly in music theatre, which draws students specifically for that program rather than the university generally. Business, education, and neuroscience are also well-regarded, with neuroscience benefiting from close collaboration between the psychology and biology departments.

Campus & student life

Berea offers a quiet, small-town setting a short distance from Cleveland, giving students access to the city's arts and job market without living in it directly. The university hosts one of the oldest continuously running collegiate Bach festivals in the country, an annual tradition that draws performers and audiences well beyond the student body and reflects the Conservatory's broader musical reputation.

Getting in

Music theatre and other Conservatory programs require a separate audition process alongside the general application, and admission to those programs is considerably more competitive than to the university overall.

After graduation

Conservatory graduates, especially in music theatre, have a genuine track record of placing in professional theater and touring productions, an outsized outcome for a school of this size, and business and education graduates place steadily within the greater Cleveland region.

Worth knowing

Prospective Conservatory students should know the audition process is separate from and more demanding than general admission, and the Bach Festival is a real point of institutional pride, not a minor campus event.

bw.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate75.7%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 1060–1290 · ACT 22–29

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying