“Private research university in Worcester founded in 1887, one of the first US research universities.”
Clark University is a small private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts, founded in 1887 — and one of the original 14 founding members of the Association of American Universities (AAU) alongside institutions like Harvard, Yale, and Columbia. Today it enrolls roughly 2,400 undergraduates and another 750 graduate students on a compact 50-acre urban campus, giving it the unusual combination of a true research university (with PhD programs) at the scale of a liberal arts college. Sigmund Freud delivered his only US lectures at Clark in 1909, and the American Psychological Association was founded on Clark's campus in 1892 — a heritage that still anchors its top-tier psychology department. Academically, Clark is best known for psychology (Hiatt School of Psychology), geography (the Graduate School of Geography is widely considered one of the world's best), business (Clark School of Management), biology, and political science. Clark's signature undergraduate model is LEEP — Liberal Education and Effective Practice — which combines a robust liberal arts core with required experiential learning (research, internships, study abroad, capstones) for every student. Clark also developed and maintains TerrSet/IDRISI, a leading geographic information science (GIS) software platform used worldwide. For international students, Clark stands out for being small, supportive, and unusually generous: about 15% of undergraduates are international, drawn from 30+ countries, and Clark offers two of the most prominent merit awards available to international applicants — the Presidential Scholarship (full tuition, room, and board) and the Global Scholars Program ($15,000–$25,000/year). The setting is a residential urban neighborhood in Worcester, New England's second-largest city, with easy train and bus access to Boston (about an hour away).
Visa, OPT, H-1B alumni outcomes, and acceptance rates by country — sourced from FOIA, USCIS H-1B Hub, and DHS SEVIS.
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Tuition & Fees (All Students)
$58,867
/yr
Beyond the sticker price — every named scholarship, the financial aid policy, need-aware notes, and a personalized net-cost estimate.
How life on campus actually feels — clubs, sports, traditions, housing realities, and how the school integrates with its city.
46 majors, minors, and concentrations across humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering.
Clark is historically renowned for psychology; G. Stanley Hall, the first APA president, founded the department.
One of the oldest and most prestigious geography programs in the U.S.
Where alumni go after graduation — top industries, grad-school continuation, and the qualitative outcomes story.
Sticker price (annual, out-of-state): $58,867
Net-cost estimate is US-resident-only — international applicants are typically excluded from need-based aid at most schools and should treat the sticker price as the planning baseline.
