“A small liberal arts college where students design their own education through one-on-one mentorship.”
Sarah Lawrence College is a small, private liberal arts college located in Bronxville/Yonkers, New York — just 30 minutes by train from Midtown Manhattan. Founded in 1926 as a women's college and coeducational since 1968, Sarah Lawrence is nationally distinctive for its pedagogy: instead of lectures and letter grades, students learn in seminar-style classes (capped around 15 students), write narrative evaluations, and meet individually with professors in biweekly 'conferences' to design independent research projects. There are no pre-set majors — students work with a faculty don (advisor) to craft a personalized course of study across the college's 50+ academic disciplines. The college is best known for its creative and performing arts — writing, theatre, dance, visual arts, and filmmaking — with an MFA writing program that has produced Pulitzer Prize winners, and programs in dance and theatre that regularly place graduates on Broadway and in major New York companies. Beyond the arts, Sarah Lawrence has growing strengths in psychology, human genetics (home to one of the oldest genetic counseling graduate programs in the U.S.), environmental studies, and interdisciplinary programs like Health, Science, and Society. Study-abroad and field-work are heavily encouraged, and the college runs its own programs in Oxford, Florence, Havana, and elsewhere. Campus life is intimate and countercultural. Students live in a mix of traditional dorms, townhouses, and converted historic homes on a 42-acre Tudor-Gothic campus. Traditions like Poetry Festival, May Fair, and Coming Out Day reflect a famously progressive, LGBTQ+-affirming community. The student-to-faculty ratio is roughly 9:1, which makes Sarah Lawrence feel more like a graduate seminar than a traditional undergraduate experience — a draw for self-directed international students who want close mentorship and easy access to New York City.
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
Non-binding; decisions by late December
Early Decision I
Binding; decisions by late December
Early Decision II
Binding; decisions in early February
Regular Decision
Decisions late March to early April; reply by May 1
The deep admissions playbook beyond the headline acceptance rate — round-by-round breakdowns, nationality data, requirements, and contact paths.
Tuition & Fees (All Students)
$66,862 – $70,205
/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.
Sarah Lawrence's signature division, covering writing, dance, theatre, filmmaking, visual arts, and music. Classes are taught by working artists; performance, studio, and production work are integrated into the curriculum. The division is home to the well-known MFA programs in Writing and Dance.
Seminar-style study across literature, philosophy, religion, languages, and area studies. The writing-intensive culture and independent conference work make Sarah Lawrence a strong launch pad for students heading into journalism, publishing, and graduate school in the humanities.
Interdisciplinary departments including psychology, politics, history, economics, sociology, and anthropology. The psychology program is one of the college's most popular, and Sarah Lawrence was a pioneer in women's history and gender studies.
Small department offering biology, chemistry, computer science, environmental science, mathematics, and physics. Labs and research are done in small groups; the Health, Science, and Society interdisciplinary program lets undergrads take graduate courses alongside the Human Genetics master's students.
Sarah Lawrence hosts several distinctive graduate programs, including the Joan H. Marks Graduate Program in Human Genetics (one of the first genetic counseling programs in the U.S.), the MFA in Writing, MFA in Dance, MFA in Theatre, Art of Teaching MSEd, and MA in Child Development.
2 years
One of the most respected low-residency-style MFA programs in the U.S., with a faculty of working poets, novelists, and nonfiction writers. Emphasizes one-on-one conferences with faculty mentors and has produced multiple Pulitzer and National Book Award finalists.
2 years
The Joan H. Marks Graduate Program is the oldest and largest genetic counseling master's program in the U.S. Graduates are placed in top hospitals, biotech firms, and research institutions; the program is STEM-designated and eligible for STEM OPT extension.
4 years
Sarah Lawrence's hallmark undergraduate experience: no set majors, seminar classes of ~15 students, narrative evaluations instead of grades, and biweekly one-on-one 'conference' meetings with every professor to design independent research projects. Students graduate with a transcript rich in faculty commentary alongside letter grades.
Where alumni go after graduation — top industries, grad-school continuation, and the qualitative outcomes story.
Sticker price (annual, out-of-state): $66,862
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.
