Wright State University (WSU)

Wright State University, located 8 miles northeast of downtown Dayton, Ohio, annually serves more than 10,000 students and offers more than 300 undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, professional, and certificate academic programs. The university also operates a branch campus, Wright State University-Lake Campus, on the shores of Grand Lake St. Marys in Celina, Ohio.

Wright State was named to honor aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright, who invented the world's first successful airplane in their Dayton bicycle shop. In fact, the Wright brothers conducted most of their early test flights at Huffman Prairie, just a short drive from our Dayton campus. Originally a cooperative branch campus of Miami University and The Ohio State University, Wright State achieved full university status in 1967.

Total enrollment for Fall Semester 2022 was 10,798, which included 5,971 women (55.3 percent) and 4,827 men (44.7 percent). Total minority student enrollment was 2,365 (24.2 percent). Graduate students comprise 19.7 percent of the student body and 26.6 percent of students are age 25 and older. More than 25 percent of Wright State students are first-generation college students.

There are more than 130 student organizations at Wright State in a diverse variety of interests, including academics, religion, Greek life, heritage and culture, professions, sports, and outdoor activities. The sports clubs include our men's bowling team, a perennial national tournament contender and the 2022 national club champions. Our Model United Nations team has earned top national awards for more than 40 years. Campus life offers many artsand culture-related activities, including outstanding theatrical productions and music concerts, NCAA Division I athletic teams to cheer on, outdoor recreation, an indoor fitness center and Olympic-size swimming pool, and community engagement and service opportunities.

The Wright State student body encompasses many groups: “young, old, upper-class, middle-class, lower-class, some come from real farmland, others from urban areas.” There’s a large nontraditional student body as a result of “neighboring an Air Force Base.” “Military professionals and retirees” add to the mix of foreign students (who are “especially from India) and “parents going back to school.” Also, “WSU has a great disability center, which attracts disabled students from across the state.” Traditionally, “Most students are commuters, and this is unfortunate, but WSU is trying to get away from being a commuter school, as more and more campus housing is becoming available.” Until then, “The majority of students come to class and leave.” “As a result of this there is virtually no community at Wright State,” one student says.

“WSU is primarily a commuter school,” although “there is campus housing” to accommodate roughly one-fifth of the student body. As a result, “most students come to campus for class and then leave,” resulting in “not a lot of campus life.” The campus is hardly dead, however. “There are athletic events to attend, a movie theatre and mall less than five minutes from campus, our creative arts college frequently puts on shows, several bars close by (but none on campus), bowling alleys, parks, soccer and softball fields within ten minutes from campus, and the school’s Nutter Center host many concerts and events,” including games for the school’s “very much supported” men’s basketball team. There are party scenes focused on both off-campus residences and a small but robust Greek community, but students assure us that this is “by no means a party school.”