University of Western States at a glance
- Program: Doctor of Chiropractic
- Campus: 8000 NE Tillamook Street, Portland, OR
- Formerly: Western States Chiropractic College
A renamed, relocated program
UWS operated for decades as Western States Chiropractic College before rebranding and moving to its current Portland address on NE Tillamook Street. Students researching the school by its older name will land on the same program under its current name.
UWS's published NBCE results
UWS discloses its licensing outcomes on a dedicated NBCE and Completion Rates page, tracking the share of graduates who passed all parts of their licensing exams, or were licensed within 6 months of graduation:
| Year | UWS rate |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 88.8% |
| 2023 | 91.1% |
| 2024 | 88.6% |
| 2025 | 89.1% |
The school does not publish a breakdown by individual NBCE Part, only the combined figure across all four.
Planning your boards from Portland
Like every CCE-accredited program, UWS students take Part I in their second year of study and Part II in year three, with Part III required within nine months of graduation and Part IV within six. The NBCE's computer-based testing windows run most months from January through November, giving Portland-based students a fairly wide set of dates to choose from between clinic rotations. Part IV, however, is now held only at the NBCE's Assessment Center in Greeley, Colorado, so UWS students need to plan that specific trip separately from any local testing they can do for Parts I through III.
Studying with a consistent record
UWS's four straight years of results sitting in the high 80s to low 90s suggest a program where outcomes don't swing wildly year to year. That kind of consistency doesn't remove the individual work of preparing for Part I's six basic-science domains or Part III's diagnostic imaging component, but it does mean incoming students aren't stepping into a program with an unpredictable track record.
UWS's page frames the figure as a completion-and-licensure metric rather than a pure exam pass rate, since it counts anyone licensed within six months of graduation, not only students who passed on a first attempt. Keep that distinction in mind if you're comparing it against a school that reports first-time pass rates by individual Part instead.
Practice with ChiroEDU
ChiroEDU's practice exams are built to feel like the real computer-based test: domain-by-domain exams for Part 1 and Part 2 with four attempts each, four mock exams for Part 3 with radiology, and PT exams with item analysis. Interested in helping classmates prep? ChiroEDU is looking for student reps at every school.
Sources: UWS NBCE and completion rates · Licensure outcomes and completion rates. Figures as published by the university; checked September 2026. ChiroEDU is independent and not affiliated with University of Western States or the NBCE.