March 5, 2008

How We’re Doing

Economics professor Bob Gitter is proud of Ohio Wesleyan. “Sometimes I think we aren’t really aware of how well we stack up against others schools,” he says.

We talk a lot about academic rigor at OWU, Gitter says, and one measure of rigor is how many students complete a Ph.D. after leaving an undergraduate institution. In economics, OWU’s record is very good. “For the time period from 1995-2004, the latest decade for which we have figures, OWU ties for 15^th among all liberal arts colleges in the number of students earning a PhD in economics. That’s all liberal arts colleges, and that group includes some pretty prestigious company, such as Amherst, Bowdoin, Davidson, the ‘other Wesleyan,’ and Reed. And we have continued to send our graduates on in recent years.”

Within GLCA schools, Ohio Wesleyan ranks second only to Oberlin in the number of economics Ph.D.s earned during the period. “I think some people—even some on this campus—would find that surprising. We do very well compared to sister schools of similar size.”

Things are equally bright in pre-professional areas. Nancy Murray, pre-medical/pre-dental advisor, says that OWU students in those fields excel in gaining admission to professional schools. “Statistics are reported in so many ways it can be hard to get a really clear picture of how various schools are doing relative to one another. However, I can say that Ohio Wesleyan’s acceptance rate at medical and dental schools is in excess of 80 percent, and that is well above the national average, which is approximately 50 percent. Our students apply to and are accepted at the most competitive professional schools in the nation, including such places as Johns Hopkins and Yale.”

Law school acceptances are also very high, says Michael Esler, professor of politics and government and pre-law advisor. “Over the last five years, OWU’s average acceptance rate—that is, the percentage of students accepted to at least one law school—has been just under 89 percent, which is well above the national average of 60 to 65 percent. And most of our students are accepted at more than one school.”

Last year was even better. “Ninety-two percent of our senior applicants were accepted to at least one law school,” Esler says. “Last year, OWU students were accepted at the University of Virginia, Duke, Notre Dame, Texas, George Washington, Loyola of Chicago, Seton Hall, and Ohio State, as well as a wide range of Ohio schools.

“During the past ten years,” Esler continues, “we have placed students in major law schools, including Harvard, Yale, Michigan, and Berkeley.”

OWU’s rigorous curriculum pays off for our students, who are well-prepared to succeed when they leave the University.

– Gretchen Hirsch