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School data & stats
Outcomes
Cost
Community
Overview
Linfield University, in McMinnville, Oregon, sits in the middle of Willamette Valley wine country, and its identity is shaped by that setting as much as by academics. It is a small private university with a classic liberal-arts core alongside several professional programs, known regionally for a level of personal attention larger Oregon schools cannot offer.
Academics
Linfield offers one of the few undergraduate wine-studies programs in the country, letting students in viticulture and enology work directly with the surrounding wine industry. Nursing is based at the university's separate campus in Portland, in partnership with area hospitals, and business is another solid draw. Class sizes stay small across the board, with faculty who know students individually.
Campus & student life
The McMinnville campus is oak-shaded and walkable, anchoring a small Oregon town rather than a large city, and much of student life is built around that scale — a close community rather than anonymity. Athletics have a real tradition here, particularly football, which has produced sustained small-college success over the years.
Getting in
Linfield reviews applicants holistically rather than by formula, and its size allows admissions staff to get to know individual applicants rather than processing them at scale. Merit scholarships are a significant part of how the school builds its class.
After graduation
Nursing and business graduates place well with regional employers, particularly the Portland-area health systems Linfield already partners with for clinical training. The wine-studies program has become a genuine pipeline into the surrounding Oregon wine industry.
Admissions
Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)
Applying
linfield.edu ↗High school coursework
Recommended4 years of English · 4 years of mathematics · 2-4 years of a second language · 3-4 years of social sciences · 3-4 years of natural sciences
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