School data & stats
Outcomes
Cost
Community
Overview
Concordia University-Chicago, in River Forest just west of the city, is a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod university with a long history of preparing teachers and church workers for Lutheran schools and congregations. That founding mission still shapes the culture even as the university has grown well beyond it through graduate and online programs.
Academics
Education is the university's core strength, tracing directly to its original purpose of training Lutheran schoolteachers, alongside church music and business programs. Undergraduate class sizes are small, and the education program in particular carries deep institutional experience and strong placement relationships with Lutheran and other schools.
Campus & student life
The campus is a compact, tree-lined property that borders Oak Park, the Chicago suburb known for its Frank Lloyd Wright architecture, giving students an attractive walkable neighborhood next door along with transit access into downtown Chicago. Undergraduate life is more traditional and residential than the university's large adult and online divisions would suggest.
Worth knowing
Concordia Chicago has grown substantially through online and adult-degree programs, so the traditional undergraduate experience is smaller and more intimate than the university's total enrollment implies. Its LCMS Lutheran identity is real but not overwhelming for non-Lutheran students, expressed more through chapel and campus ministry options than blanket requirements.
Admissions
Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)
Applying
cuchicago.edu ↗High school coursework
Required4 years of English · 3 years of mathematics (incl. 1 unit algebra and 1 unit geometry) · 2 years of science (incl. 1 year biology, chemistry, or physics) · 2 years of social science
Recommendedaccelerated, honors, or AP classes
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