Gonzaga University

Private · Moderately Selective · WA

Photo: SCUMATT (CC BY-SA 3.0)

School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationWA · West

SettingUrban

Undergrads5,198

Student:faculty12:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate74.1%

6-yr grad rate86.3%

Drop-out rate7.1%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$55k

Out-of-state tuition$55k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity37.8%

Gender diversity53.4%

International5%

IdentityRoman Catholic

Overview

Gonzaga is a Jesuit university on the banks of the Spokane River in Spokane, Washington. It carries its Catholic, Jesuit identity into daily campus life through a required core curriculum in philosophy and theology and a strong ethic of service, while its men's basketball program has made the school a household name far beyond the Pacific Northwest and given an otherwise modest-sized campus an unusually large shared sense of identity.

Academics

Business, engineering, and nursing are the most heavily enrolled professional programs, each carrying a solid regional reputation and feeding directly into Pacific Northwest employers. The Jesuit core requires coursework across philosophy, theology, and the humanities regardless of major, giving even engineering and business students a liberal-arts grounding. Class sizes stay small enough that undergraduates get real access to faculty, and the Gonzaga-in-Florence program is one of the university's signature offerings, sending a large share of students abroad for a semester.

Campus & student life

The campus sits along a walkable stretch of the Spokane River near downtown Spokane, with most undergraduates living on or near campus for at least their first two years. Basketball dominates the social calendar; the McCarthey Athletic Center, known to students as "The Kennel," is consistently one of the loudest and most difficult home courts in the country, and the team's national tournament runs are a unifying event across the whole student body regardless of major or class year.

Getting in

Gonzaga's application reads for fit with its Jesuit mission alongside academic strength, favoring students who show genuine interest in service and community beyond a resume line. Essays and demonstrated engagement carry real weight in a holistic review, and the school has become considerably more selective as its national profile has grown.

After graduation

Graduates place well in regional business, engineering, and health-care employment, particularly across the Pacific Northwest and Mountain West, and the university's alumni network is unusually loyal and active for a school its size, a byproduct of the shared identity basketball season creates.

Worth knowing

Prospective students should know the Jesuit core is a real academic requirement, not a formality, and that campus culture is genuinely shaped by the basketball season in a way few schools outside major football programs experience.

gonzaga.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate81.7%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 1190–1380 · ACT 27–31

Test policyoptional

Rec letters—

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

Early actionNov 15

Regular decisionFeb 1

Applying