Muhlenberg College

Private · Moderately Selective · PA

Photo: Unknown (Public Domain)

School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationPA · Northeast

SettingUrban

Undergrads1,727

Student:faculty9:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate66.7%

6-yr grad rate82.2%

Drop-out rate10.1%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$63k

Out-of-state tuition$63k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity31.8%

Gender diversity57.9%

International1.1%

IdentityEvangelical Lutheran Church

Overview

A liberal-arts college in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley, with Lutheran roots. It carries an unusual double identity: a top-tier theatre program and a strong pre-med and health-professions track, with students often serious about both sides of that split rather than favoring one.

Academics

Theatre and dance draw students aiming for professional stages and graduate conservatories, and the department mounts a full production season with real technical and design opportunities beyond performance majors alone. On the science side, biology, neuroscience, and public health feed a well-regarded pre-med advising pipeline. Business and psychology are also large draws, and class sizes stay small across departments.

Campus & student life

A tidy, tree-lined campus known for the red doors on its academic buildings, in a mid-size Lehigh Valley city roughly ninety minutes from both New York and Philadelphia. Greek life and a cappella groups are visible, and theatre productions function as genuine campus social events well beyond theatre majors. Most students live on campus.

Getting in

Holistic and essay-driven; theatre applicants typically audition or submit a portfolio alongside the general application. Test-optional. The college is known to value demonstrated fit with either its performing-arts identity or its science and pre-health track.

After graduation

Strong medical-school and health-professional graduate placement out of the pre-med track, and theatre alumni are visible in New York and regional professional theatre and in graduate acting and design programs. The alumni network is Mid-Atlantic-heavy with notable pockets in the arts and in medicine.

Worth knowing

The theatre and pre-med reputations aren't marketing gloss — Muhlenberg genuinely draws serious students in both, and the two populations coexist on a campus that is otherwise a fairly traditional small liberal-arts college.

muhlenberg.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate72%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 1250–1410 · ACT 29–33

Test policyoptional

Rec letters2

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

Early actionDec 1

Early decisionNov 15

Regular decisionFeb 1

Applying