University of the Incarnate Word

Private · Moderately Selective · TX

Photo: Nan Palmero from San Antonio, TX, USA (CC BY 2.0)

School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationTX · South

SettingUrban

Undergrads4,440

Student:faculty12:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate38.3%

6-yr grad rate51%

Drop-out rate28.7%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$37k

Out-of-state tuition$37k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity84.8%

Gender diversity64.3%

International3.1%

IdentityRoman Catholic

Overview

The University of the Incarnate Word is a private Catholic university in San Antonio, founded by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word and among the largest Catholic universities in Texas. It combines a liberal-arts undergraduate core with an unusually large footprint in the health professions, reflected in a campus that houses several graduate health schools alongside its undergraduate college.

Academics

Health sciences are the clear signature: UIW operates schools of optometry, pharmacy, physical therapy, and osteopathic medicine, giving undergraduates on pre-health tracks direct exposure to graduate-level clinical training and faculty on the same campus. Business, education, and nursing are also established programs, and the university has built out its offerings with a Hispanic-serving mission in mind, including support structures aimed at first-generation students.

Campus & student life

The main campus sits along the headwaters of the San Antonio River in a residential part of the city, with a mission-era feel to some of its older buildings. The student body is heavily Hispanic, reflecting San Antonio's demographics, and campus life mixes Catholic tradition, including a campus chapel and service programs, with the usual rhythms of a mid-size private university and a modest Division I athletics program.

Getting in

Undergraduate admission is holistic rather than formula-driven, with the university emphasizing access for first-generation and Hispanic-serving populations alongside academic preparation. Pre-health applicants in particular benefit from knowing the university's own graduate health schools sit on the same campus, a pipeline some students weigh explicitly when choosing UIW.

Worth knowing

The concentration of graduate health schools on one undergraduate campus is unusual for a university of this size, and it shapes pre-health advising in a way that is more hands-on than at schools without those programs in-house.

uiw.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate98.1%

Enrolled mid-50%1080

Test policynot used

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying