Gallaudet University

Private · Moderately Selective · DC

Photo: Bmzuckerman (CC BY 4.0)

School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationDC · South

SettingUrban

Undergrads812

Student:faculty6:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate20.4%

6-yr grad rate47.3%

Drop-out rate28.9%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$20k

Out-of-state tuition$20k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity58.9%

Gender diversity52%

International3.7%

Identity—

Overview

Gallaudet is a federally chartered university in Washington, DC, and the only university in the world designed specifically for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. American Sign Language and English function as co-equal campus languages, with instruction, signage, and daily life conducted bilingually on a historic campus near Capitol Hill.

Academics

Undergraduate programs span the liberal arts alongside professional fields such as social work, deaf education, and interpretation, taught with ASL as the primary classroom language rather than as an accommodation layered onto spoken-English instruction. Deaf studies as an academic discipline was essentially founded here, and the university trains a large share of the country's deaf educators and ASL interpreters.

Campus & student life

The historic core of campus was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, and student life is built around Deaf culture and community in a way no other American university replicates. Athletics carry particular symbolic weight — the football huddle is credited to a 19th-century Gallaudet quarterback, invented to keep play calls hidden from opposing lip-readers.

Getting in

Fluency in ASL, or genuine willingness to become fluent, matters as much as academic record, since the entire campus operates in the language; hearing applicants are admitted in limited numbers to specific programs.

After graduation

The alumni network functions as a professional pipeline into deaf education, deaf-services administration, and interpreting nationally, and graduates are disproportionately represented in leadership roles across Deaf institutions and advocacy organizations.

Worth knowing

The 1988 "Deaf President Now" protests, which forced the appointment of the university's first deaf president after generations of hearing leadership, remain a defining part of campus identity and are commemorated on campus as a landmark disability-rights moment taught nationally.

gallaudet.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate58.1%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 780–1022 · ACT 14–17

Test policyrequired

Rec letters—

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying