“A 250-year-old all-male liberal arts college forming 'good men and good citizens' on a 1,300-acre rural Virginia campus.”
Hampden-Sydney College is the oldest privately chartered college in the Southern United States and one of only a handful of four-year, all-male liberal arts colleges left in the country. Founded in 1775 on a sprawling 1,300-acre campus in rural Virginia, H-SC enrolls fewer than 1,000 undergraduates, giving students an intimate, close-knit environment where professors know every student by name and the average class size stays small. The college's mission to form 'good men and good citizens' shapes every part of the experience, from a required Rhetoric Program that ensures every graduate can write and speak with precision, to a student-administered Honor Code dating back centuries. Academically, H-SC offers more than 50 majors, minors, and special programs across the humanities, sciences, and professional fields, with particular strengths in the social sciences, history, economics and business, biology, engineering physics, and the pre-health and pre-law tracks. The Ferguson Career Center drives exceptional outcomes: H-SC alumni rank in the top 3% nationally for mid-career earnings among selective private colleges, with PayScale reporting early-career pay around $71,300 and mid-career pay around $138,500. Signature programs like the Wilson Center for Leadership in the Public Interest, the Society of '91 mentoring network, and the Compass Honors curriculum push students toward meaningful professional and civic work. Life on 'the Hill' is defined by tradition and brotherhood. Fraternities draw about half of the student body, football Saturdays bring out coats and ties, and the Union-Philanthropic Society — America's oldest continuous literary and debating society — still meets weekly. With 98% of students living on campus, a culture of sidewalk greetings, strict honor expectations, and tight-knit residential houses, H-SC feels less like a typical college and more like a four-year rite of passage that turns out alumni with fierce loyalty to the College and to each other.
Visa, OPT, H-1B alumni outcomes, and acceptance rates by country — sourced from FOIA, USCIS H-1B Hub, and DHS SEVIS.
Test Optional — You can submit scores if they help your case, but they're not required.
Official SourceEarly Action I
Non-binding
Early Decision I
Binding
Early Action II
Non-binding
Regular Decision
The deep admissions playbook beyond the headline acceptance rate — round-by-round breakdowns, nationality data, requirements, and contact paths.
Tuition & Fees (All Students)
$54,550 – $56,801
/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.
H-SC's humanities disciplines anchor the liberal arts curriculum, with English, History, Philosophy, Religion, Classics, and Modern Languages taught in small seminar-style classes. The nationally recognized Rhetoric Program is a required two-course sequence that has produced a reputation for graduating exceptionally strong writers and speakers.
The largest cluster of majors at H-SC, with standout departments in Economics & Business, Government & Foreign Affairs, Psychology, and Sociology & Anthropology. The Wilson Center for Leadership in the Public Interest and the Flemming Center for Entrepreneurship extend this work into policy, business, and civic leadership.
Strong pre-health and research pipeline with majors in Biology, Chemistry, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Physics & Astronomy, Mathematics, Computer Science, and a four-year Engineering Physics major. Students routinely conduct summer research on campus with faculty.
A combined department covering Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts offering majors in Theatre and Visual Arts and minors in all three disciplines. The Atkinson Museum and Bortz Library support arts programming campus-wide.
Advising tracks for pre-med, pre-law, pre-engineering (3-2 dual-degree), and pre-ministry, complemented by the Compass Honors Program, the Wilson Leadership Program, and the Society of '91 alumni-mentor network.
4 years
A required, nationally recognized writing and speaking program built into the core curriculum. Every H-SC graduate completes a two-course sequence and a rigorous Rhetoric Proficiency Exam, making H-SC one of the few U.S. colleges to guarantee communication skills as a graduation requirement.
4 years
The most popular major at the College, taught with a liberal-arts-anchored approach that blends micro/macro theory, finance, and leadership. Supported by the Flemming Center for Entrepreneurship and a strong pipeline into Richmond, DC, and Charlotte finance and consulting roles.
4 years
A rigorous, newer major (added in 2020) that prepares students for graduate engineering programs or the College's 3-2 dual-degree engineering partnerships, combining H-SC's liberal arts foundation with applied physics and engineering coursework.
Where alumni go after graduation — top industries, grad-school continuation, and the qualitative outcomes story.
Sticker price (annual, out-of-state): $54,550
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.
