Ohio's second-largest university and founder of co-op education, blending urban research with experiential learning.
UC offers 14 colleges with programs in architecture, business, education, engineering, humanities, sciences, law, music, and medicine. The College of Arts and Sciences is the largest with 21 departments and eight co-op programs. UC pioneered cooperative education and is ranked 4th nationally for co-ops/internships. The College of Medicine includes a leading teaching hospital and biomedical research labs where Albert Sabin developed the live polio vaccine and George Rieveschl synthesized diphenhydramine (Benadryl) in 1946.
The main Uptown campus spans 137 acres in Cincinnati's Heights neighborhood with 62 buildings, while the medical campus occupies 57 acres in Corryville. Notable architecture includes Frank Gehry's Vontz Center for Molecular Studies and Michael Graves' Engineering Research Center. UC maintains two regional campuses—Blue Ash College (founded 1967) and Clermont College (opened 1972)—offering associate's and bachelor's degrees. The university is committed to sustainability, earning recognition as a 'Green College' annually since 2010.
Admission is classified as 'selective' with an 87.7% admit rate for the 2023 entering class. The middle 50% of admitted students scored 1160–1340 on the SAT and 24–29 on the ACT, with an average high school GPA of 3.7. The Princeton Review assigns UC an Admissions Selectivity Rating of 85 out of 99.
U.S. News & World Report ranks UC 158th among national universities (2025) and tied for 84th among public national universities. Globally, UC ranks 207th (tied) among 2,551 universities. Forbes ranks the university 355th nationally. UC is classified as an R1 Doctoral University with very high research activity and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.