Bowie State University

What it is like

Bowie State sits in the suburb of Bowie, in Prince George's County, Maryland, on a campus between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. It is a public university, and it is bigger than the small-college picture many families carry in their heads: about 5,043 undergraduates and 1,217 graduate students. In the federal data, about 81% of undergraduates are Black, so most of the people around you will be too.

This is a suburban campus, and the city is close enough to use. A commuter train stops right beside campus, and a travel guide describes the campus as sitting between Baltimore, Annapolis and Washington. That makes it a good fit for students who want an HBCU with a big metro area next door.

The school is also proud of its age. It calls itself the oldest historically Black college or university in Maryland, and its story starts in a Baltimore church, not on the current grounds.

History

Bowie State began on January 9, 1865, when a group called the Baltimore Association for the Moral and Educational Improvement of the Colored People opened a school in Baltimore. The association had been formed in 1864 by 46 founders, a mix of businessmen, lawyers, clergy and Quakers. The first classes were held in an African Baptist church, and they offered basic schooling to people who had recently been freed. Courses to train teachers followed in 1866.

In December 1867 the school moved into the old Friends Meeting House at Courtland and Saratoga streets and became the Baltimore Normal School for Colored Teachers. In 1908 the state took over the school and called it Normal School No. 3.

The move to Bowie came a few years later. The state bought a 187-acre former farm, and the school opened there in 1911 under Don Speed Smith Goodloe, its first Black principal. In 1914 it was renamed the Maryland Normal and Industrial School at Bowie. It later became a teachers college.

The next big turn came in 1963, when Maryland's legislature allowed it to become Bowie State College with liberal arts majors. Under President Samuel Myers, it started its first graduate program, a Master of Education, in 1969. In 1988, under President James Lyons, it became Bowie State University and joined the University System of Maryland.

Two gifts from MacKenzie Scott mark the recent chapter. On December 15, 2020, the university announced a gift of $25 million, which it called the largest in its history. In November 2025 a second gift of $50 million was announced, and the school said it would go toward scholarships and research.

Academics

Bowie State organizes its programs into four colleges: Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, and Professional Studies. In the latest federal data, the biggest bachelor's programs by number of graduates are business administration, with 147 awards, criminal justice, with 102, and audiovisual communications technologies, with 97. Psychology follows with 87, then computer and information sciences with 68 and biology with 60. At the master's level, the most common degrees are in communication, counseling psychology and public administration.

Computer science has outside recognition. In 2022 the National Security Agency named Bowie State's undergraduate computer science degree with a cybersecurity specialization a program of excellence in cyber defense. The agency had first recognized the university in 2015, under an earlier program.

Students have also worked on a real space mission. From 2004 to 2012, Bowie State students helped run mission control for NASA's SAMPEX satellite on campus, and about 50 students took part. NASA paid the university about $300,000 a year for the work.

Nursing is another draw. The bachelor's program holds continuing accreditation from the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, students practice on simulation mannequins in a lab, and clinical hours happen at hospitals across the region, including Howard University Hospital and Children's National Medical Center.

The arts have a home too. The Fine and Performing Arts Center covers 123,500 square feet and includes a 374-seat theater named for Dionne Warwick, a 150-seat recital hall, a stop-motion animation studio and a music recording studio. If you draw, act, animate or make music, you will have real rooms to do it in.

Campus life

Housing runs across seven residence communities: Harriet Tubman Hall, Towers Hall, Dwight Oliver Holmes Hall, Lucretia Kennard Hall, the Alex Haley Residential Complex, the Christa McAuliffe Residential Community and the Entrepreneurship Living Learning Community. The last two are apartment or suite style. First-time freshmen cannot live in the McAuliffe apartments unless they are in the Honors Program, and the entrepreneurship community is a living-learning option built around innovation. Tubman Hall was closed for construction when we checked in 2026, with a reopening planned for early 2027.

The McAuliffe community is named for Christa McAuliffe, the teacher who died on the Challenger space shuttle in 1986. She earned her master's degree in education supervision and administration at Bowie State in 1978.

Greek life is active. The school lists 11 chapters, including all nine of the historically Black Divine Nine fraternities and sororities, plus Groove Phi Groove Social Fellowship and Sigma Lambda Gamma. To join, students need at least a 2.7 cumulative GPA and must attend a session called Greek 101 first.

Students can also work in campus media: The Spectrum is the student newspaper, and there is a campus television channel and a radio station, WBSU, which launched in 2018.

The Bulldogs compete in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association at the NCAA Division II level, and have done so since the 1979 to 1980 school year. The teams wear black and gold, the mascot is Butch the Bulldog, and the program covers four men's sports and seven women's sports. Basketball is played at A. C. Jordan Arena. In November 2021 the football team beat Fayetteville State 17 to 7 for its third straight conference title, and it went on to a fourth straight playoff berth.

Traditions

Homecoming is the big week, and it has been going a long time. In 2025 the university celebrated its 160th year and its 90th homecoming, with a week of events from October 26 through November 1, 2025. The week opened with a gospel concert, and included a pep rally, a talent show called Bowie's Got Talent, the crowning of the royal court, an alumni reception and a Greek step show.

The parade on November 1, 2025 went through Bowie Town Center with more than 40 registered groups and more than 10 high school bands. The grand marshal was Myles Frost, the Tony Award-winning performer and a Bowie State alumnus. More than 6,000 people came to the tailgate before the football game against Elizabeth City State University, which the Bulldogs lost by a single point.

The Symphony of Soul Marching Band plays at parades, football games and special events, and members are chosen by audition with the director's approval. In 2024 it was featured in the first episode of a web series called Homecoming: Spirit and Soul on Black Fam TV. Its director, Billy Bennett, said homecoming is the occasion when the band raises its own bar.

Getting in

Bowie State is test optional. If your high school GPA is 2.5 or higher, you can be admitted without SAT or ACT scores. Students in the 2.5 to 2.99 range need to have finished the University System of Maryland's core high school courses and may be placed into credit-level English and math based on their record. Students who want the Honors Program must still send test scores. The admission rate in the federal data is 72%, and the ACT midpoint is 19.

You apply through the school's online application portal, and the school says the application fee varies by program and type of applicant. You will need your high school transcript. An unofficial transcript can be used at first, with the official one due before fall classes begin. Send transcripts through Parchment or by email to the admissions documents address on the school's admissions page. The freshman page lists three fall dates, an early decision date, a priority date and a final date, so check the page for the days that apply to your year.

The admissions office also encourages students to fill out the FAFSA, and Bowie State's federal school code is 002062.

Paying for it

Start with the net price calculator on the financial aid page, which will show what your family might pay after grants. Then look at what the school itself offers.

The Honors Program offers a full scholarship. For incoming freshmen, a full scholarship is considered for students with at least a 3.5 GPA and a 1200 SAT or 25 ACT score, and the scholarship covers tuition, fees, books, and room and board. The university also sends groups of honors students to national events, such as the Honda Campus All-Star Challenge. Because it is a limited entry program, the school encourages students to apply early.

The university's written aid policy, which took effect in 2014, describes several other awards. One is for academically talented students, with a 3.3 core GPA and a 1100 SAT or 24 ACT as one route in. Bowie State grants can be need based or merit based, with preference for need, and the policy puts them anywhere from $200 up to the full cost of tuition, fees, room, board and books. Athletic scholarships are set through the coaches. Because the policy is from 2014, ask the financial aid office what is current.

There are also department scholarships, including a nursing award, a cyber scholarship for computer science students, a band scholarship and an Army ROTC scholarship. For the 2026-27 year, the private donor scholarship application had already closed when we read the page. The two MacKenzie Scott gifts mentioned earlier were both meant partly for student financial support, so ask what they mean for a new student's award.

Visiting

The official campus tour is a student-led walk that lasts about an hour to an hour and a half, covering the buildings and history. Guests cannot go inside the residence halls, but guides describe them. Groups of 15 or fewer book through an online tour portal, and reservations open on the 15th of each month for tours the next month. Larger groups of 16 to 100 fill out a request form, which opened for the fall 2026 semester on August 1, 2026, and should allow 7 to 10 business days for a reply.

A family of eight or fewer can also walk campus on its own, starting at the Student Center, which is building 20. There is an interactive virtual tour too, which is a fine first look before you book flights. The tour office is reachable at the campus tours email address on the visit page.

While you are in the area, the Fine and Performing Arts Center is worth asking about, especially if a student cares about theater or animation. In 2025, homecoming week ran from late October into early November, and the band marched in the parade while every Divine Nine organization turned out for the tailgate. If you can time a trip for that week, you will see both.

Who it fits

Bowie State fits a student who wants an HBCU with a big-region setting: a train station and an airport in reach, and a campus to come home to. It is a good match for students eyeing nursing, cybersecurity or the arts, where the school's pages show accreditation, an NSA designation, a simulation lab and studios, and for business students, since business is the most common bachelor's degree here.

It also suits a student who wants an admission path that does not lean on test scores, and who could compete for the Honors Program's full scholarship with a 3.5 GPA and strong test results.

It may not suit someone dreaming of a classic residential college town. This is a suburban campus with a commuter-rail station beside it. It is also large for a student who wants a very small school. The graduation rate in the federal data is 38%, and 68% of first-year students come back for a second year, so ask the school what supports it offers to help students finish.

If you are already flying in, Howard University is about 15 miles away, the University of the District of Columbia about 17, Coppin State about 21 and Morgan State about 24, per this guide's data, so a family could see several campuses in one trip.

Getting there from the West Coast

The closest major airport is Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall International, known as BWI. It is about 20.6 miles from campus by road, roughly a 27 minute drive, according to a travel site.

You can also skip the car. The MARC Penn Line commuter train has a Bowie State station beside campus, and it is a short ride from the BWI train station, about 13 minutes by that same travel site's account. Trains also run the other direction to Washington Union Station. Metrobus routes B21, B22 and B27 serve campus and connect with the New Carrollton Metro station.

The campus address is 14000 Jericho Park Road, Bowie, Maryland. Families flying from the West Coast can land at BWI, and take the train or a rental car from there. Check the current MARC schedule before you plan a day around it.