Divine Word College

Private · IA

Photo: Ngocquang2502 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationIA · Midwest

SettingRural

Undergrads64

Student:faculty5:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate100%

6-yr grad rate100%

Drop-out rate66.7%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$16k

Out-of-state tuition$16k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity92.2%

Gender diversity48.4%

International76.6%

IdentityRoman Catholic

Overview

Divine Word College, in the small town of Epworth, Iowa, is a Catholic seminary college operated by the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), a missionary religious order. It exists specifically to form men discerning missionary priesthood and religious life, combining a liberal-arts undergraduate curriculum with formation in prayer, community, and cross-cultural mission. The student body is unusually international for a school its size, drawing seminarians from Africa, Asia, and Latin America alongside American men, and the campus culture reflects that mix directly rather than as an incidental feature.

Academics

The curriculum blends a standard undergraduate core of philosophy, theology, and the humanities with the specific formation track required before entering theology studies at an SVD seminary. Because many students arrive as non-native English speakers, the college builds English-language instruction directly into its program rather than treating it as a separate remedial add-on, and small class sizes let faculty work closely with students across a wide range of academic and linguistic backgrounds.

Worth knowing

The mission is narrow and explicit: this is a formation program for SVD missionary priesthood and brotherhood, not a general liberal-arts college, so nearly the entire student body is discerning religious life. Daily prayer and community life structure the schedule, and the international character of the student body is a defining, everyday reality rather than a marketed extra.

dwci.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate—

Enrolled mid-50%—

Test policynot reported

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

Applying