DePauw University

DePauw’s admissions are considered “more selective” by U.S. News & World Report. As of 2023, the average newly enrolled student had a 3.97 GPA, an SAT score between 1160 and 1420, and an ACT score between 24 and 31. Besides standardized test scores, the university considers an applicant’s GPA very important, and high school class rank, when available, and letters of recommendation important.[16][17]

DePauw has consistently been ranked as the #1 liberal arts college and university in the State of Indiana.[22] In 2023, DePauw was ranked 45th among liberal arts colleges in the United States by U.S. News & World Report.[23] DePauw is ranked #132 on Forbes magazine's 2022 rankings, which include all colleges and universities in the United States.

DePauw University's schedule is divided into a 4–1–4-1 calendar: besides the 15-week Autumn and Spring Semesters, there is also a 4-week Winter Term as well as a May Term. Students take one course during these terms, which are either used as a period for students to explore a subject of interest on campus or participate in off-campus domestic or international internship programs, service trips, or international trips and field studies. One survey of DePauw students found that over 80% of DePauw graduates studied abroad.[24]

DePauw University has a student-faculty ratio of 9:1 and has no classes with more than 35 students.[25]

Notable faculty members include:

• Sunil Sahu, Leonard E. and Mary B. Howell Professor of Political Science and author of Technology Transfer, Dependence, and Self-Reliant Development in the Third World: The Pharmaceutical and Machine Tool Industries in India
• Erik Wielenberg, professor of philosophy and author of Value and Virtue in a Godless Universe and God and the Reach of Reason: C. S. Lewis, David Hume, and Bertrand Russell
• Ellen Maycock, professor emerita of mathematics, Johnson Family University Professor (2003–2007), author of Laboratory Experiences in Group Theory and Associate Executive Director of the American Mathematical Society (2005–2015)

DePauw University has one of the oldest private institutions for post-secondary music instruction in the country. Founded in 1884, the school has about 170 students. The student-to-teacher ratio is 5:1 with an average class size of 13 students.[26] The School of Music is housed inside the Green Center for Performing Arts (GCPA), constructed in 2007, which integrated and replaced parts of the former structure. The School of Music grants degrees in music performance, music education, and musical arts. The latter allows students to add an emphasis on the music business.

DePauw students can apply for entry to five Programs of Distinction. There are the Honor Scholars and Information Technology Associates programs as well as three fellowships in Management, Media, and Science Research.

The Honor Scholar Program is an interdisciplinary journey for talented students who want the highest level of intellectual rigor. The program includes 5 interdisciplinary seminars and an 80–120-page honor thesis in the student's senior year.

Management Fellows are the top students interested in business and economics. The program includes special seminars, speakers, and a paid, semester-long internship during the junior year. Students have interned in private, public, and non-profit sectors. Past internship sites include Bank of Montreal N.A., Chicago; Goldman, Sachs & Co., Chicago; Partners in Housing Development Corp., Indianapolis; Ernst & Young Global, New York; Cummins Inc. in India; Independent Purchasing Cooperative, Miami, Florida, and Brunswick Group, an international PR firm based in London.

Media Fellows benefit from DePauw's media tradition. In addition to interacting with leading contemporary media figures such as documentary filmmakers Ken Burns, Carl Bernstein, and Jane Pauley, who presented Ubben Lectures on campus, students have hands-on access to sophisticated media equipment.[27]

Science Research Fellows use state-of-the-art equipment, work one-on-one with faculty members, participate in internships, make presentations at scientific meetings, publish in scientific journals and, in essence, have graduate-level science opportunities as undergraduates.[27]

Students participating in the Information Technology Associates Program (ITAP) enjoy an opportunity to link their liberal arts education with technology know-how through on-campus apprenticeships and on- and off-campus internships.[27]

The Environmental Fellows Program is designed to foster an interdisciplinary understanding of environmental issues.

DePauw University was rated the top liberal arts college among the "Top 50 Most Unwired College Campuses",[28] according to a survey which evaluated all institutions of higher learning and their use of wireless technology. The survey was sponsored by Intel Corporation and was printed in the edition of October 17, 2005, of U.S. News & World Report. DePauw was also ranked the third most connected school in the United States in a 2004 Princeton Review analysis.

The Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media houses the school's media facilities. This includes a television station, radio station, newspaper, and 2 magazines - all student-run.[29] First published in 1852 as Asbury Notes, The DePauw is Indiana's oldest college newspaper.[30] WGRE was ranked the #1 college radio station by Princeton Review's "America's Best Colleges" in 2010.

When school is in session, the Pulliam Center is open to students and faculty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.[29]

East College of DePauw University
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
East College tower
Show map of Indiana Show map of the United States
Location	300 Simpson St., Greencastle, Indiana
Area	4 acres (1.6 ha)
Built	1869 (1869)
NRHP reference No.	75000047[31]
Added to NRHP	September 25, 1975

A historic structure located at the center of campus, East College is known to many as the architectural symbol of the college. The cornerstone for the building was laid on October 20, 1871. The building hosted commencement exercises in June 1874, and in September 1875 all college classes were moved to the building, according to the book, DePauw Through the Years. But work on East College continued until 1882 when the building's basement was completed.[32] East College was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

DePauw has two libraries: Roy O. West Library (main library) and the Music Library (located in the Green Center for Performing Arts). Library holdings include approximately 350,000 books; 22,000 videos; 1,000 print periodical titles; access to over 20,000 electronic titles; 450,000 government documents; newspapers; and online databases.

Green Center for the Performing Arts

The School of Music is housed in the Judson and Joyce Green Center for the Performing Arts; the Communication and Theater Department is also located here.

Since 2007, the Prindle Institute has served as a place for reflection, discussion, and education. Prindle sponsors events related to ethics and provides opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to engage in discussions.[33] The institute also publishes ethics related content through The Prindle Post[34] and the Examining Ethics podcast.[35]

DePauw's Greek system began just eight years after the founding of Indiana Asbury College in 1837. Several chapters were founded in the 19th century. Women were first admitted to Indiana Asbury in 1867, and the first Greek-letter fraternity for women soon followed. Just under 70% of students at DePauw are affiliated with a Greek-letter organization.[37] The Greek community consists of more than a dozen national social fraternities and approximately ten sororities. Some Greek-letter organizations were founded at DePauw.

In 2014, DePauw University was again ranked #1 in Greek Life by the Princeton Review.[38] U.S. News & World Report ranked DePauw #3 in the nation for the highest percentage of male students belonging to fraternities and #4 in the nation for the highest percentage of female students in sororities.[39][40]

In 2006, the national organization of the Delta Zeta sorority reorganized the DePauw chapter, reducing twenty-three of its thirty-five current members (including the chapter president) to alumna status and giving them six weeks to vacate the sorority house. Of the twelve remaining members, six chose to take alumna status. The Delta Zeta national organization explained that its decisions were based on member commitment, but the evicted members said that they were forced to take alumna status because the chapter members were perceived as physically unattractive and "brainy".[41] Subsequently, on Monday, March 12, 2007, DePauw President Robert G. Bottoms announced that the college would sever its ties with Delta Zeta's national organization, effective at the end of the 2006–2007 academic year.[42]

The DePauw University School of Music presents regular recitals by students and faculty and concerts by visiting artists, most of which are free and open to the public.

DePauw students also organize concerts for the campus community. Performers in recent years have included Dave Matthews, Train, The Black Eyed Peas, Ben Folds, Rufus Wainwright, and Guster. Past guests have included Billy Joel, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Carpenters, America, Yo-Yo Ma, and Harry Chapin.

On May 6, 1909, Sigma Delta Chi was founded by a group of DePauw University student journalists. The organization officially changed its name to the Society of Professional Journalists in 1988. Today it is the nation's most broad-based journalism organization, encouraging the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior. SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press. In 2012, SPJ returned to the DePauw campus with the assistance of Eugene S. Pulliam Distinguished Visiting Professor of Journalism Mark Tatge "[45]

Since 1919, the Rector Scholar Program has recognized DePauw students of exceptional scholarship and character. To be named a Rector Scholar is to join a prestigious tradition of more than 4,000 graduates strong. Rector Scholarships are offered to the top academic applicants offered admission to DePauw. A limited number of full-tuition Presidential Rector Scholarships are available.

Begun in 1986 and presented free of charge and open to all, Ubben Lecturers have included Malala Yousafzai, Bill Clinton, Benazir Bhutto, Margaret Thatcher, Jane Goodall, Tony Blair, TV's Jimmy Kimmel, Elie Wiesel, Colin Powell, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, Spike Lee, Mikhail Gorbachev, Brad Stevens, and Condoleezza Rice have spoken. The Ubben Series has hosted 114 events in its 33-year history.[46]

Voted "Indiana's Best College Sports Rivalry" by viewers of ESPN in 2005, DePauw University and Wabash College play each November—in the last regular season football game of the year for both teams—for the right to keep or reclaim the Monon Bell. The two teams first met in 1890. The game routinely sells out (up to 11,000 seats, depending upon the venue.

Boulder next to East College

The Boulder Run has become a tradition at DePauw University. Students, streaking from their respective residences, run to and from the Columbia Boulder, located in the center of the campus near the East College building.

Campus Golf requires a golf club and a tennis ball. Players attempt to hit their tennis ball against various targets on campus within a number of strokes.