“A nationally ranked Christian liberal arts college set between the mountains and the Pacific in Santa Barbara.”
Westmont College is a small, residential Christian liberal arts college founded in 1937 and perched on a 125-acre former estate in Montecito, just outside Santa Barbara, California. With roughly 1,300 undergraduates drawn from across the U.S. and more than 40 countries, Westmont combines rigorous academics with an intentional Christian community, offering 28 departmental and interdisciplinary majors across the sciences, humanities, arts, business, nursing, and pre-professional tracks. The college is consistently ranked among the top national liberal arts colleges and sits in the top tier for producing graduates who go on to earn doctorates, enter medical and law schools, and pursue competitive fellowships. Student life at Westmont is famously close-knit. Students live on a gated campus overlooking the Pacific with tiled-roof residence halls, shaded oak groves, and ocean-view classrooms; chapel gathers the community three times a week and long-running traditions like Spring Sing bring every residence hall together for an annual Broadway-style competition. The liberal arts core is small-seminar heavy, with a 10-to-1 student-faculty ratio, direct faculty mentoring, and study-abroad programs that send roughly half of students overseas before graduation. Westmont's location in Santa Barbara gives students access to one of the most beautiful coastal cities in the country: Butterfly and East Beach are minutes from campus, downtown Santa Barbara and the Funk Zone supply internships and culture, and the Santa Ynez Mountains form the backdrop for hiking and outdoor recreation. The college invests heavily in career outcomes, with Westmont alumni ranking in the top 7-9 percent of bachelor's-granting institutions nationally for mid-career earnings, and in recent years the college has added downtown nursing (ABSN) and engineering programs to complement its strong traditional liberal arts offerings.
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; decision by Dec 1; reply by May 1
Early Action II
Non-binding; decision by Christmas break; reply by May 1
Regular Decision
Rolling decisions after Jan 1; reply by May 1
Spring Priority
For spring-entry students; decision in 2-3 weeks; reply by Dec 1
The deep admissions playbook beyond the headline acceptance rate — round-by-round breakdowns, nationality data, requirements, and contact paths.
Domestic
$53,584 – $55,440
/yr
Out-of-State / Intl
$71,209 – $73,544
/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.
Home to Westmont's strongest pre-health and research pipeline, including biology, chemistry, biochemistry, physics, engineering physics, kinesiology, and psychology, with small lab-based classes and early undergraduate research opportunities.
Core of Westmont's liberal arts identity, covering English, history, religious studies, philosophy, modern languages, art, music, and theatre arts. Known for its theology and literature programs and for Spring Sing, the longest-running tradition on campus.
Includes economics & business, political science, sociology & anthropology, communication studies, and data analytics. Business/Managerial Economics is consistently Westmont's most-enrolled major.
A 16-month Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) for students who already hold a bachelor's degree, operating out of Westmont's downtown Santa Barbara campus with three cohorts per year of 36 students each.
Advising tracks that layer on top of any major, including Pre-Medicine, Pre-Dentistry, Pre-Law, Pre-Health, Pre-Ministry, Pre-Engineering, and Pre-Business Administration, with dedicated advisors and strong placement into graduate and professional schools.
4 years
Westmont's flagship and most popular major, blending classical economics with applied business coursework and Santa Barbara-area internships. Feeds strongly into finance, consulting, and entrepreneurship, and contributes to Westmont graduates ranking in the top 7-9% of U.S. bachelor's institutions for mid-career pay.
4 years
One of Westmont's most-enrolled science majors with a rich pipeline into physical therapy, medicine, athletic training, and health professions, supported by small lab sections, a 10:1 student-faculty ratio, and direct research mentorship.
1.33 years
A 16-month second-degree nursing program at Westmont's downtown Santa Barbara campus. Three cohorts per year of 36 students each produce RN-licensure-eligible graduates with clinical placements across the Santa Barbara healthcare network.
Where alumni go after graduation — top industries, grad-school continuation, and the qualitative outcomes story.
Sticker price (annual, out-of-state): $53,584
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.
