Monmouth College

Private · Moderately Selective · IL

Photo: Monmouth College (CC BY-SA 4.0)

School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationIL · Midwest

SettingRural

Undergrads702

Student:faculty9:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate55.1%

6-yr grad rate64.6%

Drop-out rate25.6%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$45k

Out-of-state tuition$45k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity29.5%

Gender diversity46.4%

International0.4%

IdentityPresbyterian Church (USA)

Overview

Monmouth College is a small Presbyterian-affiliated liberal arts college in Monmouth, Illinois, a rural town in the western part of the state. It holds a notable place in fraternity-and-sorority history as the founding site of two national sororities, Pi Beta Phi and Kappa Kappa Gamma, and Greek life still carries unusual historical weight on campus as a result. The college keeps a traditional, residential small-town feel, with the vast majority of students living on campus for all four years.

Academics

Monmouth's signature academic feature is its Integrated Studies curriculum, a required sequence that runs across all four years and asks students to connect ideas across disciplines rather than treating general education as a checklist to clear early. Class sizes are small, and faculty relationships are close by design, with students often knowing most of their professors by name well before graduation. Science facilities are notably strong for a college of its size, supporting hands-on research opportunities that are harder to come by at larger institutions.

Campus & student life

The small-town western Illinois setting means campus life is largely self-contained, with the college functioning as much of the town's social and cultural center. Greek life, given the campus's sorority-founding history, remains a meaningfully larger part of student culture here than at many peer colleges of similar size.

Getting in

Admission is holistic, with the college emphasizing fit for a small, tightly integrated academic community; demonstrated interest and a genuine sense of why a student wants a small-town, close-faculty-contact experience tend to carry weight in review.

Worth knowing

The two sororities founded at Monmouth still recognize the college as their founding site, which occasionally brings alumnae events and a sense of historical significance to campus that outsizes the college's current enrollment.

monmouthcollege.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate90.9%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 1000–1210 · ACT 20–27

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying