Founded in 1873 as a preparatory school, Wesley College has a covenant relationship with the United Methodist Church. The College offers 30 bachelors, four associates, and master’s degrees in nursing, education, business administration and environmental science in a multi-denominational, multi-cultural campus setting.
Wesley College and its athletic facilities are located on 50 acres in historic Dover, Delaware. Dover is the capital of the nation’s first state and has 35,000 residents. The campus is situated in Dover’s major residential community with stores and banks in easy walking distance and malls a short commute. In addition to being the site of many pre-Revolutionary War buildings and sites, Dover is also the home of Dover Air Force Base and Dover Downs International Speedway, which hosts two annual NASCAR races. The city has a number of fine eating establishments as well as a wide variety of fast food restaurants. Seafood is a specialty because of the city’s proximity to the Delaware and Chesapeake bays and to the Atlantic Ocean. New York City, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., are within a two to three hour drive of the campus.
Most of the College’s 2,500 students come from the Middle Atlantic region. The majority of full time students enroll directly from high school, but the College does provide programs for nontraditional students. Wesley attracts students interested in a personal approach to learning, with a 17:1 student to faculty ratio.
Mission Statement
Wesley College is a United Methodist institution of higher education that seeks to be among the finest student-centered learning communities in the liberal arts tradition. Consistent with our Methodist heritage, the College affirms meaning and purpose in life through justice, compassion, inclusion and social responsibility that enhance community life and respect for the environment. Wesley College exists to liberate and empower its students with the knowledge, skills, ethical attitudes and capacity for critical thinking needed to achieve personal and professional goals and to contribute to the local and global society.
Fast Facts
• Founded in 1873 to provide a value-centered education to students of all races and faith. The original Wilmington Conference Academy became Wesley College institute in 1918 and Wesley College conferred its first four-year degrees in 1978. Graduate programs were added in the 1990s. The institution is Delaware’s oldest private college.
• Wesley is fully-accredited through the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, and operates as an independent liberal arts and sciences college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Several majors are accredited through field-specific accreditation commissions. The College was named for John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.
• Located in the historic district of Delaware’s capital city.
• The 50-acre main campus features a library, 19 buildings and recreational facilities. Several other support facilities are located within a walking distance of campus including a public library, the state archives and museum, and the legislative plaza. The College operates off-campus centers at the Dover Air Force Base and the Wesley College New Castle Campus.
• More than 30 areas of study in arts and sciences, business, health sciences, education, and fine arts.
• Wesley is a partner in the Schwartz Center for the Arts, located in downtown Dover, allowing the College to provide cultural programs for our students and the local community.
• Approximately 2,100 students on the Dover campus and 400 at the New Castle, Delaware campus, attend the College each year from 28 states and 18 countries.
• Over 4,000 undergraduate applications received annually. The Office of Admissions considers a variety of criteria, including high school GPA, SAT/ACT scores, extracurricular involvement, among others.
• The student to faculty ratio is 17 to 1; 86 percent of full-time faculty hold appropriate terminal degrees.
• As a member of ISEP, the International Student Exchange Program, Wesley College offers its students opportunities to study abroad at more than 150 institutions in 38 countries. In addition, Wesley has several international partners in Europe, China, Australia and Japan.
• The Robert H. Parker Library is a 3-story 30,000 square foot building that houses over 100,000 books and paper periodicals, along with access to over 20,000 full-text electronic journals through database subscriptions.
• Seventy percent of full-time students live in a variety of College housing. There are six residence halls on campus. Zimmerman Hall offers apartment-style living for upperclassmen, Malmberg has suite style living, Carpenter and Roe Halls offer traditional housing, and Gooding and Williams Halls provide housing for first-year students. The Honors House is uniquely positioned on campus and offers a quality housing experience for students that maintain a certain GPA and are approved by the Director of the Honors Program.
• Athletic teams are nicknamed the Wolverines and compete at the NCAA Division III level in 20 sports. All sports compete in the ECAC. All sports except football also compete in the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC).
• Students participate in a variety of over 30 co-curricular organizations including Student Government, Student Activities Board, Greek Life, intramurals and recreation, academic clubs, special interest groups and community service groups.
• Internships, cooperative education, undergraduate research programs, and professional practicums are an integral part of many academic programs and encouraged in others.
• Various volunteer opportunities are available in the community and through unique, campus based service programs, including charter school and other programs located within our campus community.
• The College awards nearly $9 million in institutionally funded financial aid annually.
• Ninety percent of full-time students receive financial aid comprised of scholarships, institutional grants, federal and state grants, student loans, work-study, and on-campus employment.