“A Catholic Mercy liberal arts university on a National Historic Landmark estate at the Jersey Shore.”
Georgian Court University (GCU) is a small private Catholic liberal arts university in Lakewood, New Jersey, founded in 1908 by the Sisters of Mercy. Its campus occupies the Georgian Court estate, the former Gilded Age winter residence of railroad financier George Jay Gould, designed by Bruce Price between 1899 and 1902. The grounds — including the Italian Gardens (modeled on Versailles), the Casino Building, the Sunken Garden, and the Mansion — were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985 and sit along the shore of Lake Carasaljo at the northern edge of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Students walk to class through one of the most architecturally distinctive campuses in American higher education. GCU was a women's college for more than a century: the Sisters launched a coeducational graduate program in 1976 and admitted men to evening undergraduate classes from 1994, but full coeducation across all undergraduate programs only arrived at the start of the Fall 2013 semester. That recent transition still shapes campus culture — class sizes are small (about 1,500 undergraduates), the Mercy values of compassion, service, and social justice anchor the curriculum, and women remain a strong majority of the student body. Academically, Georgian Court is best known for the Hackensack Meridian Health School of Nursing & Wellness (a clinical partnership launched in 2011 and formalized as a named school in 2021), the School of Education (a major pipeline for New Jersey teacher certification), and the School of Business & Digital Media. Students compete athletically as the Lions in NCAA Division II's Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) across 14 varsity sports, and a 67,000-square-foot Wellness Center anchors campus recreation alongside the historic gardens and Sister Mary Grace Burns Arboretum.
Visa, OPT, H-1B alumni outcomes, and acceptance rates by country — sourced from FOIA, USCIS H-1B Hub, and DHS SEVIS.
Regional Universities North
US News Best Colleges 2026
Test Optional — You can submit scores if they help your case, but they're not required.
Official SourcePriority Deadline 1
Rolling admission; earlier review and best scholarship consideration
Priority Deadline 2
Priority Deadline 3
Fall Application Close
Rolling — applications after priority dates considered case-by-case
Spring Application Close
For January start
International — Fall Deposit Due
Required before I-20 issuance
The deep admissions playbook beyond the headline acceptance rate — round-by-round breakdowns, nationality data, requirements, and contact paths.
Tuition & Fees (All Students)
$36,100 – $38,642
/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.
Formalized in 2021 from a decade-long clinical partnership with Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey's largest health network. Offers a traditional BSN, an Accelerated BSN (ABSN), and graduate nursing tracks with embedded clinical placements across HMH hospitals.
Long-standing strength of the institution, dating to its founding mission. Programs align with New Jersey teacher certification (P-3, K-6, K-12) and include education specialist, reading specialist, and supervisor endorsements.
Houses the liberal arts core — sciences, humanities, social sciences, and pre-professional tracks. Strong in psychology, biology, criminal justice, and social work.
Offers undergraduate and graduate business programs with concentrations in accounting, finance, management, marketing, and a distinctive digital media track that blends business with content creation and design.
4 years
Traditional 4-year BSN housed in the Hackensack Meridian Health School of Nursing & Wellness, with clinical rotations across HMH's hospital system. The school has graduated 350+ nurses since the partnership launched and is the program GCU is most strongly associated with.
1.3 years
Fast-track BSN for students who already hold a bachelor's degree in another field. Cohort-based and clinically intense, designed to move career-changers into nursing in under 16 months.
4 years
GCU is one of the most established teacher-preparation institutions in central New Jersey, with structured field placements across Ocean and Monmouth County school districts and pathways to P-3, K-6, and K-12 NJ certification.
Where alumni go after graduation — top industries, grad-school continuation, and the qualitative outcomes story.
Sticker price (annual, out-of-state): $37,260
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.
