Private colleges, unlike large public institutions, can be a great option for students wanting a more intimate campus experience, more personal attention from excellent professors, and more immediate access to support services. Here is our list of the best private colleges in Oklahoma.
Less than half of the schools in Oklahoma are private schools. However, students who attend one these schools can expect a more intimate college experience, as each has a student population smaller than 4,000 students. The largest private school, the University of Tulsa, offers degrees in fields like education, criminal justice, and literature, with tuition fees around $41,000. The public schools tend to be more cost-friendly, with tuition ranging from $4,000 to $9,000 per year.
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The University of Oklahoma, the state’s largest public school, costs about $9,000 and serves over 24,000 students. Here, students can partake in competitive on-campus programs in fields like communications and social work, or pursue one of the 30 graduate degrees and certificates online. Oklahoma is also home to several religiously affiliated schools, like Oral Roberts University and Bacone College. Students hoping to pursue a career as a physician, physician’s assistant, or dentist may also want to consider earning their degree here as the state offers several loan forgiveness programs to those who qualify.
The state of Oklahoma is serious about its food — so serious they even declared an official state meal, which consists of fried okra, cornbread, barbecue pork, squash, biscuits, sausage and gravy, grits, corn, strawberries, chicken fried steak, black-eyed peas, and pecan pie. Those hoping to feed both their bellies and their minds can attend one of Oklahoma’s more than 40 colleges and universities.
To learn more about earning your degree in Oklahoma, check out some of the state’s top programs.
Public and private colleges and universities operate under different business models — one is a private company with private funding; the other is owned by the state and receives both state and federal funding to operate. If you’re weighing the pros and cons of private vs. public college, consider that many public colleges provide diverse course offerings, influential professors, and an excellent return on your investment.
Public colleges are schools that receive most of their funding from tax revenues. As a result, the cost of a four-year degree at a public university is often lower than the equivalent cost at a private college — especially for students attending a public school in their home state. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, the average annual cost (tuition, fees, room and board for full-time students) at a four-year public university was slightly over $20,000. In contrast, private universities cost, on average, nearly $43,000 annually.
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why, at the undergraduate level, we rank the best colleges and universities based on what we call “Concentrated Influence”. Concentrated Influence takes the combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers (including faculty and alums) and divides it by the school’s total number of undergraduates.
Using concentrated influence gives small and mid-sized schools an opportunity to shine by taking away the size advantage of larger universities. A small school with proportionately more influential faculty than a large school, whose influence in absolute terms may be bigger, will nonetheless score higher in a concentrated influence ranking. Our approach highlights undergraduate schools that truly rank for excellence, regardless of size.
If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities for a bachelor’s degree, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching and whether their graduates are themselves advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence.
Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.
This list is composed entirely of private colleges and universities that offer four-year undergraduate degrees. We’ve identified 11 private universities in Oklahoma, 9 of which satisfy our criteria. The list below of the best private universities in the state satisfies the following three conditions:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
71%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1200/25
Oklahoma City University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$43K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
73%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1225/27
University of Tulsa’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
56%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1114/21
Oral Roberts University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$29K
Acceptance
83%
Graduation
36%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1035/20
Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$25K
Acceptance
61%
Graduation
60%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1125/24
Oklahoma Christian University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Acceptance
58%
Graduation
55%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1105/23
Oklahoma Baptist University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$26K
Graduation
48%
Student body
2K
Southern Nazarene University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$19K
Graduation
43%
Student body
1K
Mid-America Christian University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$17K
Acceptance
62%
Graduation
30%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
992/18
Southwestern Christian University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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