Concordia College, River Forest Admission
Concordia College, River Forest Undergraduate Program
Concordia College, River Forest Application

The Facts

Concordia College, River Forest is a rather small, private institution located in the town of River Forest, Illinois, and is affiliated with the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. The school is home to over 1,000 undergraduate students and approximately 500 graduate and part-time professional students who are able to take courses in one of the three undergraduate schools, or the graduate school. The school was founded in 1864, and since then, it has been a place for students to be enriched and grow not only intellectually, but spiritually as well. The college’s four divisions offer broad majors in the areas of biological science, business (home to a very popular accounting program), communications and the arts, computer and physical science, education (home to a very unique major in computer education), health professions, and social sciences. Some of the most popular major choices among students include teacher education, music, computer science, business, and psychology.

Admission to Concordia College, River Forest is not particularly competitive, but with each passing year, more and more qualified students apply. Last year, over 670 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 610 of those students were accepted; of those, about 230 matriculated. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 1010 to 1070, and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 20 to 24. Additionally, more than 30% of those admitted were ranked in the top 10% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of about 3.42.

Concordia College, River Forest has a very manageable student to faculty ratio of 15:1, and in fact, most students agree that the small class sizes and one-on-one attention they receive from professors is the best perk of attending the school. Professors also get rave reviews from students in terms of accessibility and willingness to provide help.

The Social Scene

The town of River Forest is basically part of the city of Chicago’s urban sprawl, and is only located about ten miles away from the city center. Most students own cars, or simply take the quick and efficient public transportation into the city on the weekends. Chicago has an amazing amount of social and cultural offerings, including wonderful theaters, museums, restaurants, shopping, galleries, and the beach of Lake Michigan. Concordia College has no fraternities or sororities, but the students don’t seem to miss their presence one bit. There are a large amount of dorm and bar parties held, but they have to be kept fairly quiet, as the administration is pretty strict when it comes to underage drinking and wild partying. However, drinking remains one of the most popular modes of social interaction both on and off campus.

The dating scene apparently holds many pleasant surprises in store. We hear there are a large amount of hopeless romantics on campus...

What’s Good

“I really love all my professors, and I know that I could go talk to them about anything. School-related or otherwise, there’s no difference to them.”

“It’s awesome being right next to Chicago. You get to experience it without dealing with the stress of actually living there.”

“I like that we don’t have fraternities and sororities. It keeps everyone from breaking apart into little groups.”

What’s Bad

“I wish we had more of a social scene here. It seems like everyone just leaves campus to do stuff.”

“The traffic is absolutely horrendous. Sometimes I really wish I hadn’t brought my car.”

“The student body is pretty homogenous. There isn’t a whole lot of diversity, that’s for sure.”

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