At a Glance
Oregon State admits 78.9% of applicants.
What You'll Actually Pay
See what families at different income levels actually pay after aid.
What families actually pay, by income level
After grants and scholarships. Before loans. Public school prices shown at in-state rates.
Source: College Scorecard / IPEDS, 2024-25
Where the Sticker Price Goes
Based on average need-based grant. Actual cost varies by family income — see chart above.
Shown at in-state rates.
Debt at Graduation
41.6%
receive need-based grant aid
$25,935
average debt at graduation
Oregon State graduates carry an average of $25,935 in debt.
Merit Aid
7,730
students received merit aid
$8,145
average merit award
Getting In
Oregon State admits 78.9% of applicants.
SAT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 8% of the class submitted
ACT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 4% of the class submitted
28% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
Oregon State University considers your essay Important — a strong essay can differentiate an otherwise average application. Demonstrated interest is Considered — showing genuine engagement with this school may help your application.
Student Life
27.3% of Oregon State classes have fewer than 20 students.
Share of undergraduate class sections at each size, from CDS Section I-3. More red = more large lectures.
At Oregon State, 27.3% of your classes will have fewer than 20 students.
Class size data reflects all undergraduate sections including labs, seminars, and lectures. Large research universities often have smaller upper-division and graduate-level sections that improve the overall distribution. First and second-year students typically experience larger classes than these averages suggest.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section I-3 (class sizes)
18:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
Live on campus
16%
Men in fraternities
12%
Women in sororities
15%
Who Attends
Racial and ethnic breakdown of enrolled undergraduates, as reported in each school's Common Data Set. "Unknown / Other" includes students who did not report or selected "other."
Oregon State's student body is 62.3% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
Oregon State graduates 44.8% of students in 4 years.
Graduating late means paying for extra semesters. The 6-year rate tells you who eventually finishes — the 4-year rate tells you what it actually costs.
Oregon State graduates 44.8% of students in 4 years.
What finishing late actually costs
Based on each school's published cost of attendance. Public school costs shown at in-state rates.
Oregon State
44.8%
4-yr grad rate
Extra year cost: $31,653*
* In-state cost of attendance. Out-of-state students pay significantly more.
Graduation rate data from Common Data Set 2025–26, Fall 2018 cohort (most recent available). 4-year rate = students completing in 4 years or less. 6-year rate = students completing within 6 years.
68%
Overall 6-yr rate
58%
Pell recipient rate
A 10 point graduation gap between lower-income and overall students suggests financial or academic challenges for some students.
Freshman Retention
89.1%
89.1% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Corvallis.
Corvallis is a classic college town — walkable, bike-friendly, and genuinely shaped around student life. It's small enough that you'll recognize faces downtown within a few weeks, and surrounded by forests, rivers, and trails that make getting outside effortless. Students who want big-city energy will need to road-trip to Portland, but those who thrive in tight-knit, outdoorsy communities tend to fall hard for this place.
Notable Alumni
Linus Pauling
The only person to have won two unshared Nobel Prizes — Chemistry in 1954 and Peace in 1962. He took a degree in chemical engineering here, and the university's Linus Pauling Institute carries his name.
Class of 1922
Jensen Huang
Founder and chief executive of NVIDIA, whose chips underpin the modern AI industry. Oregon State names him among its alumni as a 1984 electrical engineering graduate.
Class of 1984
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
The City
College town
Corvallis, OR
Best For
Traditions
Civil War Rivalry Game
OSU's annual football showdown against the University of Oregon is one of the oldest and most heated rivalries in the Pacific Northwest, drawing massive crowds and intense school pride on both sides. The winner earns bragging rights for the full academic year, and the week leading up to the game is its own event on campus.
Convocation
Every fall, incoming students walk through the Memorial Union Quad in a formal procession that marks their official entry into the Beaver community. It's a surprisingly moving moment — the kind of first-week experience students actually remember at graduation.
OSU Midnight Pancake Feed
During finals week, university staff and faculty flip pancakes for students late into the night as a stress-relief tradition that has become a beloved campus staple. It's equal parts practical and genuinely charming — free food at midnight from your professors goes a long way.
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Corvallis
Portland, OR
1.5 hoursOregon's biggest city delivers world-class food, live music, art museums, and a weekend's worth of neighborhoods to explore — close enough for a Saturday trip, easy enough to do regularly.
Oregon Coast (Newport)
1 hourNewport sits right on the Pacific and offers everything from dramatic sea stacks and tide pools to the Oregon Coast Aquarium — a genuinely great day trip any time of year.
Crater Lake National Park
3.5 hoursThe deepest lake in the US sits inside a collapsed volcano and looks almost artificially blue — it's one of the most visually stunning places in the Pacific Northwest and absolutely worth a weekend camping trip.
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Portland International Airport (PDX)
1.5 hours from campus
Flies international — you can start a trip abroad from here.
Pro sports nearby
- Portland Trail Blazers NBAAbout 1 hour 30 minutes away
- Portland Timbers MLSAbout 1 hour 30 minutes away
- Portland Thorns FC NWSLAbout 1 hour 30 minutes away
Career Proximity
OSU's strengths in engineering, agriculture, and environmental science align well with Oregon's booming tech sector and robust sustainability industry, with Portland serving as the primary career hub an hour and a half away.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- Intel
- Nike
- HP Inc.
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise
- USDA Forest Service
Portland, OR — approximately 1.5 hours from campus
Who Thrives Here
Oregon State admits 78.9% of applicants, so getting in is rarely the hard part; finishing on time is. 89.1% of first-years come back, which is strong, but 68.0% finish within six years and only 44.8% in four — a gap worth planning around, because a fifth year costs what a fifth year costs. In-state tuition and fees run $16,032 against $42,747 from out of state, aid meets 71.4% of need, and graduates who borrow leave owing $25,935. Classes are large for a school of 31,586 undergraduates: 27.3% of sections hold fewer than 20 students, at 18 per faculty member. And it is not a residential campus — 16% of undergraduates live in university housing and 12% of men and 15% of women join Greek life, so Corvallis itself, not a quad, is where most of four years happens.