“Private Methodist university known nationally for performing arts and nursing”
Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a small private university founded in 1904 and historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church. With roughly 2,500 total students and an undergraduate enrollment of about 1,500, OCU is best known nationally for its performing arts programs — the Wanda L. Bass School of Music and the Ann Lacy School of American Dance and Entertainment have produced a disproportionate number of Broadway performers, opera singers, and touring musicians, earning OCU the nickname 'the Juilliard of the Southwest.' The 104-acre campus sits just north of downtown Oklahoma City, giving students access to internships, performing venues, and a revitalized urban core. Beyond the arts, OCU is organized into eight colleges and schools including the Meinders School of Business (AACSB-accredited), the Kramer School of Nursing, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Petree College of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Theatre. The student-faculty ratio is 11:1 and the average class size is small — a feature OCU actively markets to prospective students who want individualized mentorship. More than 90% of OCU students receive financial aid, and the university distributes over $34 million annually in scholarships, including robust talent awards for auditioned arts programs. OCU operates on a semester calendar and uses the Common Application, making it accessible to international students already applying elsewhere. The campus has a long international tradition — international undergraduates with a 3.0+ high school GPA are automatically considered for merit scholarships, and talent-based awards stack on top of academic aid for arts majors. While smaller than flagship research universities, OCU offers a distinctive combination of rigorous performing-arts training, NCAA Division I athletics (the only DI school in the country with that classification at its enrollment size), and a Methodist-rooted service ethos.
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 SourcePriority / Competitive Scholarship
Scholarship notifications on March 1.
Regular Decision (rolling)
Applications reviewed on a rolling basis through the start of term.
The deep admissions playbook beyond the headline acceptance rate — round-by-round breakdowns, nationality data, requirements, and contact paths.
Tuition & Fees (All Students)
$35,648
/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.
One of the country's most prolific opera and musical theatre feeder schools, housed in a $38M, 113,000 sq ft music center. Roughly 350 students in a conservatory-style setting inside a liberal arts university.
Home to one of the few U.S. undergraduate dance programs with tracks in American dance styles (tap, jazz, musical theatre) in addition to ballet and modern.
AACSB-accredited business school named for Herman and LaDonna Meinders, offering undergraduate and MBA programs with a Christian ethics and leadership emphasis.
BSN and advanced-practice nursing programs with clinical placements across the Oklahoma City medical corridor, including Integris, Mercy, and OU Medical Center.
Liberal arts core of the university, offering pre-professional pathways (pre-med, pre-law), psychology, biology, and the humanities.
4 years
Conservatory-level training with annual mainstage opera productions, private voice instruction, and a track record of placing graduates on Broadway, in European opera houses, and on national tours.
4 years
Distinctive program emphasizing American dance forms alongside classical technique; extensive audition-based touring and a direct pipeline to commercial dance and musical theatre careers.
4 years
Traditional and accelerated tracks with high-fidelity simulation labs and clinical rotations in Oklahoma City's major hospital systems. Strong NCLEX-RN pass rates.
Where alumni go after graduation — top industries, grad-school continuation, and the qualitative outcomes story.
Sticker price (annual, out-of-state): $35,648
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.
