Is Pacific University the right fit for your students?
Pacific is a private secular college based in Forest Grove, Oregon, about 25 miles from Portland. We offer a full range of undergraduate programs in the liberal arts and sciences, as well as a wide variety of graduate and professional programs, including those in business, nonprofit leadership, education, writing, and allied health and human services fields.
A significant portion of Pacific students are inspired by dreams of working in healthcare fields, but students with all sorts of interests thrive in our liberal arts-based curriculum. Our undergraduate programs meld rigorous academic experiences, experiential learning opportunities, community engagement, and research as students explore their passions and find their purpose.
Pacific students tend to be motivated by a desire to achieve specific goals of serving their communities. Through our Pacific Priority program, we strive to eliminate barriers and help students find a smooth path from learning to careers. Incoming students can apply to our graduate programs before they even begin freshman year classes and we’ll save them a seat in the grad program of their choice. We also offer a four-year graduation guarantee for motivated first-year students and a two-year graduation guarantee for transfer students in many majors.
Pacific students often are those who were active and engaged in high school. They challenged themselves academically and participated in many community organizations and extracurricular activities.
We focus heavily on personal attention and support. About a quarter of our students are the first in their family to attend college, and we are a designated Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institution. We celebrate students of all walks of life and offer a wide variety of affinity groups for students of various backgrounds.
Application Requirements
At Pacific University, we use a holistic review process that focuses on a student’s overall academic profile.
The average GPA for incoming freshmen is a weighted 3.7, but any student with a 3.0 or higher GPA will find success at Pacific.
We do not have specific course requirements for admission.
We use the Common Application for first-time college students and require an official high school transcript. SAT and ACT scores are optional, and there is no application fee.
Application Deadlines
For first-year college students planning to start in the fall, we have two early-action application deadlines:
- Early Action Deadline I is Nov. 1.
- Early Action Deadline II is Jan. 15.
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Between Jan. 16 and July 31, we use a rolling admissions cycle, reviewing applications as they come in.
Financial Aid & Scholarships
Every undergraduate student at Pacific University receives some form of financial aid, be it merit- or need-based.
First-year and transfer students are automatically considered for $20,000 to $30,000 in renewable academic scholarships.
Students also may apply for competitive renewable scholarships based on their special interests and talents. Some of these include music talent scholarships, computer science scholarships, art/design/art history talent awards, and more.
Visiting Campus
We encourage prospective students and their families to visit our Forest Grove Campus as part of their college search process. We offer daily tours during the week, as well as a number of special events each year. During Senior Preview Scholarship Days, participating high school seniors can even earn a renewable scholarship just for showing up! Many of our admissions events also are available virtually, and we offer an online virtual tour for those unable to visit campus.
If you or a colleague are interested in bringing prospective students to campus, we have limited capacity for group tours. Group tours typically last about two hours.
Priority is given to high school seniors, then high school juniors. Group tours are not available for students younger than high school age. A few other guidelines:
- Group visits are by appointment only and must be scheduled at least two weeks in advance.
- No more than 25 students per group, not including chaperones.
- Be on time. We are not able to accommodate a full visit schedule if a group is more than 10 minutes late. Groups who arrive early should wait to check in until five minutes before their appointment time.
- Chaperones are required to supervise their students and ensure that they remain respectful to the presenters and tour guides throughout the visit. Tours will be discontinued if students are being disrespectful or acting out.
- Chaperones also may be asked to assist in passing out materials, splitting students into tour groups, or otherwise manage their groups.
