College of Saint Benedict

Admission to the College of St. Benedict is highly accessible, with an undergraduate female acceptance rate of 91.5% in 2025. Compared with similarly ranked private liberal arts colleges, where most institutions admitted a much smaller portion of applicants, this acceptance rate was higher than all peer schools. At the same time, the college's position on the U.S. News National Liberal Arts Colleges ranking has steadily improved over recent cycles, climbing from 82 in 2020 to 68 in the 2027 edition. Once admitted, applicants show a solid commitment to attend compared to peer institutions. The college posted an enrollment yield rate of 21.6% in 2025, which was higher than 83% of its peer group. These metrics indicate that while gaining admission is straightforward for qualified women, the college retains a competitive pull among those it accepts, offering applicants favorable odds alongside a rising institutional profile.

Applicants evaluating the College of St. Benedict can gauge their academic profile against recent testing distributions from the 2025 admissions cycle. The institution recorded a median SAT score of 1160. That median stood higher than only 4% of the 30 peer private liberal arts colleges, where the peer median reached 1330. For applicants submitting ACT results, the middle 50% composite score ranged from 20 to 27, with the English subsection spanning 20 to 26. Standardized testing participation has shifted across recent classes, with 43% of entering students submitting ACT scores in 2025 while only a tiny fraction submitted the SAT. These benchmarks show that competitive applicants generally present composite scores around 1160 on the SAT or within the mid-20s on the ACT, providing prospective students with clear reference points for admission.

Undergraduate degree conferrals at the College of St. Benedict are heavily concentrated in a small group of practical disciplines, with the top three bachelor's programs accounting for 40.1% of all degrees awarded in 2025. The single largest undergraduate field was Registered Nursing, with 55 graduates, followed by General Biology and General Psychology. Advanced degrees were limited to small cohorts in nursing education and practice. Although undergraduate nursing represents the college's only ranked program in U.S. News, holding a rank of 394 in 2027, the largest disciplines align directly with strong financial outcomes. According to 2023 earnings data, median pay one year after graduation was highest for Registered Nursing at $79,173, followed closely by Accounting at $72,140. For students selecting a path of study, the college offers its clearest employment advantages in healthcare and business specialties.

The student body at the College of St. Benedict comprised 1,429 students in 2025, characterized by an entirely female undergraduate population and a graduate division of 38 students. White students made up the vast majority across all academic levels. In the incoming first-year class, international students numbered 19, while Asian students accounted for 8 individuals. Representation remained similarly modest among continuing undergraduates, where Asian and international students each formed small groups alongside Hispanic peers, and the graduate programs enrolled only a couple of Asian students with no international representation. Families considering the college should anticipate an undergraduate setting centered on women where international and Asian students represent small segments of the overall student community.

Undergraduate life at the College of St. Benedict is concentrated heavily among traditional college-age students. In 2025, 47.4% of the college's 1,391 undergraduates were aged 18 to 19, and another 46.2% were aged 20 to 21. By comparison, the graduate division numbered just 38 students, with the largest group aged 25 to 29. For prospective applicants, this structure means campus culture and undergraduate student services are oriented toward young adults entering college immediately after high school, while graduate study exists as a small, separate component for working-age adults.

International enrollment at the College of St. Benedict is limited and has trended downward over the past decade. By 2025, undergraduate international enrollment stood at 53 students, representing 3.8% of the undergraduate population. When evaluated against similarly ranked private liberal arts colleges, this undergraduate international proportion was higher than 23% of peer schools. At the graduate level, the college enrolled no international students. This low representation carries through to degree completions: international students earned just 2% of bachelor's degrees awarded in 2025, with none among master's or doctoral graduates. Across specific majors, international degree recipients were thinly dispersed in areas such as General Biology and General Psychology, while the largest major, Registered Nursing, graduated none. Prospective applicants should be aware that international students constitute a very small part of the campus community.

Families exploring higher education options near the College of St. Benedict have several notable institutions within close geographic proximity. Located just 3.8 kilometers away, Saint Johns University is a fellow liberal arts college ranked 74th in the 2027 U.S. News rankings. About 66.6 kilometers to the southeast, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities offers a large-scale public research alternative, holding the 59th position among national universities. In the same general metropolitan area, approximately 70.7 kilometers away, Macalester College serves as a private liberal arts college ranked 28th. Further south, roughly 94.2 kilometers from campus, St Olaf College is another liberal arts college, holding the 49th spot on the 2027 ranking list. These surrounding campuses provide prospective students with a range of institutional types, from close-knit liberal arts environments to comprehensive doctoral universities.

Campus safety records at the College of St. Benedict show an overall decline in reported infractions over the last decade. In 2025, the college recorded a crime rate per 1,000 students of 10.8, down substantially from earlier years. From 2023 to 2025, the vast majority of documented campus incidents involved student conduct violations regarding substances rather than violent criminal acts. Disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations were the most prevalent category, totaling 141 incidents over those three years, followed by 44 disciplinary referrals for drug law violations. During the same 2023 to 2025 window, the institution recorded 8 reports of rape, alongside a few instances of alcohol arrests and dating violence. Overall, these statistics indicate that student disciplinary issues related to alcohol account for the bulk of safety reports, while violent offenses remain infrequent on campus.