The University of Kentucky is the state's flagship public research university and land-grant institution, sitting on a 900-acre campus immediately south of downtown Lexington. UK is unusually broad for its size — it runs a full academic medical center alongside colleges of pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, public health and social work, and its College of Pharmacy is ranked in the national top 15. As Kentucky’s land-grant institution, UK runs the state’s agricultural research and extension service out of the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, which also makes it the academic center of the horse industry: the Gluck Equine Research Center is the only full-time equine health research facility in the United States, and the four-year Equine Science and Management degree has no real peer. One number surprises people: UK admits about 94% of applicants. That is not an error — it is a flagship that takes almost everyone who applies and puts the selectivity inside its programs rather than at the front door.
Mascot: Wildcat
Notable Alumni
Ashley Judd (actress and human rights activist)•Pat Riley (NBA championship coach and Miami Heat president)•William N. Lipscomb Jr. (1976 Nobel laureate in chemistry)
At a Glance
Cost
Published sticker prices for 2025-2026. Actual cost after aid varies.
Top Programs & National Ranking
Approximate national ranking based on departmental rankings, research output, and program reputation.
Highlights
Campus Experience
Basketball is the organizing principle of the social year — UK has more wins than any program in college basketball history, and a home game at Rupp Arena is the single loudest thing on the calendar. Greek life is a genuine presence without running the place (17% of men, 28% of women), and 85% of first-years live on campus, which keeps the freshman year residential even though only 31% of all undergraduates do. Two-thirds of students are Kentuckians. Outside the professional colleges the academic pressure is manageable, which leaves room for the social side to breathe.
A mix of handsome older brick around the Main Building and Memorial Hall and a lot of newer housing from the university's decade-long rebuild, which traded character for comfort — the residence halls are among the newest in the SEC. The adjacent Arboretum, the State Botanical Garden of Kentucky, does much of the heavy lifting on green space.
Based on Niche reviews, Princeton Review surveys, student forums, and institutional data.
Safety
UK Police is a full sworn force patrolling 24/7, with emergency phones across campus, a campus escort service, and building access control in the residence halls. Most reported incidents are alcohol- and theft-related rather than violent, and the campus publishes an annual security report and a daily crime log.
Lexington is a city of roughly 320,000 with crime rates well below Louisville's and close to the national average. Campus runs straight into downtown on one side and into quiet residential streets on the other; the stretch along South Limestone and the bars near campus are the usual late-night caution.
Based on Clery Act data, student surveys, and local crime statistics.
Plan Your Visit
Schedule: Weekdays during the academic year, plus an Open House series through the fall and spring
Duration: About 2 hours (admission information session + student-led campus tour)
Register through visit.uky.edu. Academic-interest meetings with individual colleges can be added on and vary in length. UK asks that you register with a personal rather than a school-issued email address so they can reach you.
Book a TourRegister for a self-guided campus tour and walk the route on your own, including weekends. Building hours change on weekends and holidays, so check the published schedule before you come.
Tour ResourcesSeptember through early November or late March through April. Fall gives you football and basketball season plus the Keeneland fall meet; spring gives you the April meet and the Arboretum in bloom. Avoid the winter break and the deep summer weeks when campus empties out.
Visitor parking is in the campus garages and metered lots; UK publishes an interactive parking map, and the free campus bus system connects the far ends of a large campus in real time through the Transit app. Blue Grass Airport (LEX) is about 15 minutes west; Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (CVG) and Louisville (SDF) are each roughly 90 minutes. Lexington sits at the junction of I-64 and I-75.
Location
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