Acceptance Rate
57%
Avg. SAT
1390
75th percentile
“Perched on a misty 13,000-acre forested plateau, Sewanee wraps you in Southern Gothic intellectualism, an ironclad honor code, and endless trails where foxhounds bay at dawn.”
Sewanee, TN
Location
Rural
Campus Setting
You'll step into a living legend when you arrive at The University of the South—founded in 1857 by 26 Episcopal bishops from the Confederacy's dioceses, dreaming of a Southern Oxford amid the pines of Tennessee's Cumberland Plateau. Civil War cannonballs scarred its early cornerstone, but it rose anyway, opening its gates in 1868 as a bastion of liberal arts with a gentle Anglican inflection that shapes chapel services and moral rigor without demanding piety. Sewanee's personality radiates scholarly quirkiness: think tweed-jacketed professors quoting Eliot over whiskey in stone-walled pubs, all on a sprawling Domain that's equal parts nature preserve and campus. The tiny village of Sewanee (population 2,400) hugs its edges, offering a post office, one bookstore, and Friday fish fries, but you're three hours from Nashville's hum—bliss for introverted hikers craving focus, isolation for urban souls pining for diversity or nightlife. Students who thrive here love intimate debates, muddy trail runs, and self-reliance; party-chasers or trend-followers wilt in this rarified, tradition-soaked air.
Photo Gallery
+28
+20
Admissions
Acceptance Rate
Test Policy
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Average GPA
Application Fee
Academics
Student-Faculty Ratio
Full-Time Faculty
Women Faculty
Research Spending
Degree Levels Offered
In Sewanee's classrooms, you huddle in seminars of 12 around oak tables scarred by generations, where professors—many ordained priests moonlighting as medievalists or ecologists—probe your ideas with Socratic jabs rather than lectures. The 9:1 student-faculty ratio means your bio prof knows your dog's name and invites you to tag along on plateau stream surveys. English and history reign supreme, birthing poets and novelists; the forestry program, one of America's few undergrad tracks, sends you wielding GPS into old-growth woods for canopy research. Sciences hum with electron microscopes dissecting Appalachian salamanders, while the C.S. Lewis Institute sparks theology-philosophy mashups. Research abounds early—half of juniors co-author papers—but tradeoffs hit: no vast engineering or business machines, and rural remoteness limits urban internships until summer.
Student Body
Total Enrollment
1,644 undergrad • 80 grad
Undergraduate
Graduate
International
White
80%
Black / African American
4%
Hispanic / Latino
6%
Asian
1%
Other / Multi-racial
9%
Campus Life
Campus Setting
Sewanee, TN
Varsity Athletics
NCAA Athletics
Your week pulses with Sewanee's outdoorsy rhythm: Monday hikes up Lost Cove, Wednesday a cappella rehearsals in All Saints' Chapel, Friday tailgates before the Purple Pullover football clash with rivals. You'll pledge one of 11 Greek houses or 100+ clubs—from beekeeping to Scottish country dance—in a social scene that's warm but stratified, where old Sewanee families mingle with merit admits under magnolia arches. Residential life clusters you in 30 quirky houses like the eco-focused McCrady or vampire-themed Tuckaway, fostering lifelong tribes amid firefly-lit quads. Traditions glue it: ring the Seven Mile Bell after exams, join the All Saints' Foxhunt on horseback, or streak the Chapel at midnight post-finals. Vibe skews wholesome-adventurous, with bonfires and barn dances outpacing keggers, but winters bite with plateau fog and black ice, and the small size amplifies cliques or romantic drama.
Housing
On-Campus Housing
Housing Capacity
Meal Plan Available
Average Room & Board
Athletics
Athletic Association
Southern Athletic Association
ROTC & Veteran Support
Veteran’s Programs Available
Yellow Ribbon Program (Post-9/11 GI Bill)
Yes
Cost & Aid
In-State Tuition
Out-of-State Tuition
Room & Board
Estimated Cost
Financial Aid
Students Receiving Aid
Receiving Pell Grants
Average Grant
Average Federal Loan
Net Annual Cost by Household Income
Household Income
Avg. Net Cost
$0 – $30K
$10,474
$30K – $48K
$12,758
$48K – $75K
$16,685
$75K – $110K
$20,066
$110K+
$37,849
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Outcomes & Earnings
Retention Rate
89%
4 Years Graduation Rate
76%
6 Years Graduation Rate
82%
Median 10-Year Earnings
$64,911
89% of first-time, full-time students complete their freshman year at The University of the South and return in the fall. 76% of first-time, full-time students graduate in 4 years, and 82% graduate within 6 years.
Graduation Rate
4-year grads
76%
4-6 years
6%
Non-grad
18%
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Key Statistics
Type
Private
Tuition
$50,863
Acceptance
57%
Undergrads
1,644
4-Year Grad Rate
76%
Endowment
$431M
Sewanee, TN 37383-1000
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