Arcadia University
Glenside, Pennsylvania
Arcadia University offers a personalized education where students are known by name, supported by dedicated faculty, and encouraged to explore their interests. Students consistently choose Arcadia because of its combination of small class sizes, career-focused academics, nationally recognized study abroad opportunities, and a welcoming campus community.
What truly sets Arcadia apart is the balance between global experiences and meaningful relationships on campus. Students benefit from close mentoring, hands-on learning, internships, undergraduate research, and a flexible academic experience that allows them to customize their path. Located just outside Philadelphia, Arcadia also provides access to internships, research, cultural experiences, and professional opportunities while maintaining a close-knit residential campus.
Arcadia graduates leave prepared for careers and lifelong success through experiential learning, individualized support, and an education grounded in global awareness, social responsibility, and personal growth.
Get to know Arcadia University
College Highlights
PREVIEW THE WORLD
Most students don’t go abroad until junior year, if they go at all. Arcadia makes it possible from the very first semester. Preview the World is a course for first-year and transfer students that pairs classroom learning with a week-long international field study over spring break, sending students to cities including Seoul, Paris, Barcelona, Edinburgh, and London, among others. Students who receive a Pell Grant have their travel fee waived entirely, making the experience genuinely accessible regardless of financial background. For students who want to go further, a full semester abroad is available as early as the spring of their first year, and semester and summer programs across dozens of countries remain available throughout all four years.
FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE
The first year at Arcadia is structured to help students find their footing academically and socially. A required first-year seminar places students in a small cohort alongside a faculty mentor and peer mentors, building critical thinking, writing, and research skills while creating the kind of early community that makes a large transition feel manageable. Students living in the residence halls are placed in Living Learning Communities that connect their coursework with campus life, and additional theme communities and the Honors Program provide further opportunities to build relationships around shared interests and goals.
ENROLLMENT BY ETHNICITY
Non-U.S. Citizen: 3%
Hispanic/Latine: 8%
Black or African American, non-Hispanic: 15%
White, non-Hispanic: 53%
Native/Indigenous American or Alaska Native, non-Hispanic: 0%
Asian, non-Hispanic: 9%
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic: 9%
Two or more races, non-Hispanic: 3%
Race and/or ethnicity unknown: 9%
Arcadia’s small student-to-faculty ratio means that students are genuinely known by their professors. Faculty mentors provide discipline-specific guidance as students advance through their major, while professional advisors support their academic planning. The Writing Center, Learning Resource Network, and a full range of tutoring and academic success resources are introduced early and remain available across all four years. Arcadia’s curriculum is intentionally interdisciplinary, with general education requirements spanning communication, critical thinking, scientific inquiry, global perspectives, and ethical reasoning, building graduates who can think and communicate across contexts rather than within a single lane.
HANDS-ON LEARNING
Internships are built into the Arcadia experience across nearly every major, with strong employer partnerships throughout the Philadelphia region. A substantial majority of undergraduates complete at least one internship before graduation, and many programs encourage or require them. Faculty-mentored undergraduate research gives students the opportunity to contribute to original scholarship, with finished work shared through campus presentations and the university’s digital research repository. Every student also completes a major-specific capstone that brings together the full arc of their undergraduate work, often presented at a campus-wide celebration attended by faculty, family, and peers.
CAMPUS LIFE
Arcadia’s residential requirement for the first two years creates a campus that hums with activity. Students find their people through more than 30 clubs and organizations spanning cultural groups, performing arts, service organizations, student media, academic clubs, and identity-based communities. The Society for Castle Restoration, Arcadia FTK, and UKnight Dance Team are among the student organizations that give the campus its particular character. The annual Global Expo each spring celebrates the international learning that happened throughout the year, with student exhibits and performances that reflect the breadth of where Arcadia students have been and what they have brought back.
SCHOOL LOCATION
Philadelphia is a short commuter rail ride from Glenside, putting world-class museums, restaurants, live music, and professional sports within easy reach. The city is also a practical extension of an Arcadia education, with internship and career opportunities across healthcare, education, business, and the arts that students can access throughout their undergraduate years.
ATHLETICS
Arcadia competes at the NCAA Division III level as a member of the Middle Atlantic Conferences, sponsoring a wide range of varsity sports alongside club sports and intramurals. Athletics at Arcadia contribute to the sense of shared campus identity, giving students another avenue for community and competition alongside everything else the campus has to offer.
Career development at Arcadia begins at orientation and continues through graduation, with personalized advising, resume and interview preparation, networking events, and a robust job and internship board available across all four years. The Career Mentor Program connects students with alumni who provide guidance and professional perspective, and career resources are accessible around the clock through the university’s online platforms.
Arcadia’s location just outside Philadelphia puts students within reach of one of the country’s most diverse job markets, with strong employer partnerships across healthcare, education, business, nonprofits, and the arts. By the time students walk across the stage at commencement, most have already completed at least one internship, contributed to a research project, studied in another country, and presented a capstone to an audience of faculty and peers. That combination of experience speaks for itself.
Admission
TEST SCORES
Optional
FRESHMAN PROFILE
SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing
25th Percentile: 550 | 75th Percentile: 650
SAT Math
25th Percentile: 515 | 75th Percentile: 615
Tuition & Cost
Tuition: $47,590
Fees: $700
Room: $8,500
Board: $5,880
Contact Arcadia University
Contact Admissions
arcadia.edu/admissions
1 (877) 272-2342
admiss@arcadia.edu
Campus Location
450 S. Easton Road
Glenside, PA 19038