July 2, 2024
In the classic educational video game, The Oregon Trail, 8-bit pioneers make their way westward by horse-drawn carriage, trying desperately to ration their salted meats and not die of dysentery. The modern-day path to Oregon for out-of-staters often involves a journey to a college campus instead of a speculative gold mine. Yet, striking it rich from an educational value standpoint is still very much a possibility in the Beaver State.The following list of the best colleges in Oregon is meant to give you an idea of how to narrow down your search and find the perfect-fit institution to meet your unique needs. The data in each profile card is intended to give a better sense of the academic offerings and outcomes at each institution.
Methodology
Click here to read our methodology for the Best Colleges in Oregon. As you’ll see, some schools with spectacular (and deserved) reputations simply do not happen to fare well on metrics such as student-to-faculty ratio or spending per student. We understand that a list based solely on prestige/general reputation would look different than what you will find below.
Best Colleges in Oregon
Here’s a quick preview of the top Oregon-based institutions that made our list. Detailed profiles and stats can be found when you scroll below.
1) Reed College
2) Willamette University
3) University of Oregon
4) Oregon State University
5) Pacific University
All of the Best Colleges in Oregon profiled below have a history of sending graduates to the most desirable employers and graduate schools in the country. College Transitions will provide you with—when available—each school’s:
We will also include a longer write-up of each best college in Oregon’s:
- Academic Highlights – Includes facts like student-to-faculty ratio, average class size, number of majors offered, and most popular majors.
- Professional Outcomes – Includes info on the rate of positive outcomes, companies employing alumni, and graduate school acceptances.
Also view our:
- Best Colleges by Major
- Best Colleges by State
- 300 Best Colleges in the United States
- 50 Best Colleges for B Students
#1 Best College in Oregon
Reed College
- Portland, OR
Academic Highlights: Twenty-six academic departments collectively offer 38 majors, 13 of which are interdisciplinary. English, math, and physics receive particularly strong praise.The educational experience is highly personalized, and to ensure that the emphasis in the classroom remains on learning for learning’s sake, grades are issued but not shared with students until graduation. The areas in which the highest number of degrees are conferred are the social sciences (22%), biology (11%), the health professions (9%), and the physical sciences (7%).
Professional Outcomes: An examination of Reed’s alumni database reveals that the three most common occupational pathways are business (28%), education (25%), and self-employment (19%). Included among the most frequent current employers are Microsoft Corporation, Kaiser Permanente, Portland Public Schools, Intel Corporation, the US Department of State, National Institutes of Health, and Apple. An incredible amount of Reedies continue their education; Reed was the No. 6 producer of future PhD holders across all academic disciplines.
- Enrollment: 1,523 (undergraduate); 11 (graduate)
- Cost of Attendance: $86,040
- Median SAT: 1410
- Median ACT: 32
- Acceptance Rate: 31%
- Retention Rate: 86%
- Graduation Rate: 80%
#2
Willamette University
- Salem, OR
Academic Highlights: 30 distinct majors are offered at Willamette, and the greatest number of degrees conferred in 2022 were in the social sciences (16%) followed by a fairly even distribution among psychology (9%), biology (9%), natural resources and conservation (8%), and foreign languages (6%). Classes are exceptionally small with 75% of sections enrolling fewer than 20 students, and undergraduate research is taken seriously, with more than 75 undergraduate research grants offered annually. The school is a top producer of Fulbright Scholars.
Professional Outcomes: Currently, two dozen or more alumni work for the likes of Nike, Intel, Kaiser Permanente, Microsoft, Amazon, and Wells Fargo. Graduates of the College of Arts & Sciences enjoy an average mid-career salary of $107k; alumni have gone on to all kinds of interesting careers including analytics for the Houston Astros, IT engineer at Netflix, lead investigator at the National Cancer Institute, and bestselling author of young adult fiction. Portland has the highest concentration of Bearcats followed by Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Denver.
- Enrollment: 1,367 (undergraduate); 548 (graduate)
- Cost of Attendance: $63,756
- Median SAT: 1320
- Median ACT: 30
- Acceptance Rate: 81%
- Retention Rate: 82%
- Graduation Rate: 76%
#3
University of Oregon
- Eugene, OR
Academic Highlights: Over 80 degree programs are offered, and students flock in large numbers to the social sciences as 19% of degrees conferred fall under this umbrella. The next most popular academic pursuits are communication/journalism (14%), business (14%), psychology (9%), biology (8%) and the visual and performing arts (7%). The Lundquist College of Business and the College of Education have strong national reputations. The median class size is 20 students (37% contain less than that), and an impressive 80% of undergraduate students engage in some type of research activity.
Professional Outcomes: Members of the Class of 2022 already had their next destination lined up at graduation with 78% already employed or entering graduate school. For 73% of that group, their outcomes related directly to the degree that they had just completed. More than 1,000 Oregon alumni work for Nike, and hundreds of others occupy offices at Intel, Amazon, Microsoft, Adidas, Google, Apple, and Salesforce. The median starting salary for a 2022 graduate was $51,000.
- Enrollment: 19,565 (undergraduate); 3,598 (graduate)
- Cost of Attendance: $35,721 (in-state); $64,302 (out-of-state)
- Median SAT: 1260
- Median ACT: 27
- Acceptance Rate: 86%
- Retention Rate: 86%
- Graduation Rate: 73%
#4
Oregon State University
- Corvallis, Oregon
Academic Highlights: Across its 11 colleges, graduate schools, and Honors College, OSU offers close to 200 degree programs. While 28% of classes have fewer than 20 students another 21% of sections enroll more than 50 individuals. The three most commonly earned degrees are in engineering (17%) computer science (15%), and business (15%). Other popular areas of study are biology (7%), natural resources and conservation (6%), and the social sciences (5%).
Professional Outcomes:Large number of College of Business alums work at companies such as Nike, Boeing, Intel, Deloitte, Oracle, KPMG, and Adidas. Including all majors, many others work for Amazon, Salesforce, Meta, Apple, Google, and NVIDIA. An impressive 67% of those applying to medical school are accepted, a figure far higher than the national average. Med schools where recent grads now attend include Harvard, Yale, the University of Chicago, and UCLA.
- Enrollment: 28,905
- Cost of Attendance: $28,866 (In-State); $51,642 (Out-of-State)
- Median SAT: 1260
- Median ACT: 26
- Acceptance Rate: 83%
- Retention Rate: 87%
- Graduation Rate: 70%
#5 Best College in Oregon
Pacific University
- Forest Grove, Oregon
Academic Highlights:Pacific University, the #1 private research institute in the Pacific Northwest, combines the small, close-knit learning environment of a small liberal arts college with the rigorous scholarship of a larger institution. Students benefit from the 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio, allowing them to build relationships with professors. Students can choose from over 60 majors, with the most popular majors including biology (12%), exercise science and kinesiology (11%), business administration and management (8%), dental hygiene (8%), and public health (7%).
Program Outcomes:Graduates enjoy an above-median salary, earning $56,365, 11% more than the national median. Healthcare, education, operations, community & social services, and administration comprise the top five industries of recent graduates, who work at employers such as Oregon Health & Science University, Walgreens, Fred Meyer, Legacy Health, and Rite Aid. Most alumni remain in Oregon, settling in the Portland Metropolitan area.
- Enrollment: 1,639
- Cost of Attendance: $72,374
- Median SAT: 1195
- Median ACT: 22
- Acceptance Rate: 92%
- Retention Rate: 77%
- Graduation Rate: 66%
We hope you have found our list of the Best Colleges in Oregon to be useful and informative as you continue your college search process. We also invite you to check out some of our other resources and tools including:
- AP Score Calculators
- SAT Score Calculator
- ACT Score Calculator
- Best Summer Programs
- College List Building Tool
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Andrew Belasco
A licensed counselor and published researcher, Andrew's experience in the field of college admissions and transition spans two decades. He has previously served as a high school counselor, consultant and author for Kaplan Test Prep, and advisor to U.S. Congress, reporting on issues related to college admissions and financial aid.
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