Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota

Admission to Saint Mary's University of Minnesota is broad and accessible, with an overall admit rate of 92.8% in 2025. That acceptance level is higher than 77% of its peer group of private comprehensive universities with similar rankings, where the peer median was 82.1%. In the 2027 U.S. News Best Colleges rankings, the university held the rank of 299 among national universities, mirroring its position of 299 in 2023 after reaching 283 in 2026. Once admitted, students enroll at a modest pace: the school recorded a yield rate of 18.8% in 2025. While less than one in five admitted applicants decided to attend, this yield is higher than 83% of peer schools in its comparison group. For prospective applicants, these figures demonstrate that admission hurdles are minimal, though the institution draws only a modest portion of its admitted applicant pool to final enrollment.

Saint Mary's University of Minnesota maintains a test-blind admissions policy, where standardized test scores are not considered even if submitted. As a result, recent years have no published score ranges for the SAT or ACT. Applicant testing had already declined prior to this policy; by 2023, the ACT submission rate had dropped to 20%, alongside minimal SAT submissions. High school transcripts therefore represent the core academic measure for applicants. In the 2019-2020 entering class, 18.86% of students arrived with a 4.0 GPA, while 24.58% enrolled in the tier directly below that mark. Other enrollees primarily held grades distributed across the three-point range. For prospective students and families, this policy means standardized testing does not influence undergraduate admissions outcomes. Instead, admissions evaluation centers directly on secondary school course selection, academic rigor, and cumulative high school grades.

Degree conferrals at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota are heavily weighted toward graduate education rather than undergraduate degrees. In 2025, the university awarded 754 master's degrees compared to 279 bachelor's degrees. Undergraduate majors are relatively spread out, with the top three bachelor's programs accounting for 25.1% of all bachelor's degrees. The leading undergraduate programs by enrollment include general business administration and management, followed by criminal justice and safety studies. However, the university's largest undergraduate fields do not correspond to its most prominent academic rankings. In national evaluations, the institution's highest-ranked offering is at the graduate level, where the nurse anesthesia program ranked 60 in 2026 according to U.S. News. For career outcomes, 2023 earnings data demonstrate that bachelor's recipients in registered nursing achieved a median first-year salary of $93,614. These figures indicate that professional healthcare fields offer strong returns, even as the campus confers the bulk of its credentials in graduate education and counseling disciplines.

Saint Mary's University of Minnesota maintains a student body centered largely around adult and post-baccalaureate learners. Graduate students form the largest division on campus, where Asian students numbered 108, representing 4.2% of the graduate cohort in 2025. International students accounted for a smaller proportion of that same division, totaling 51 students, or 2% of graduate enrollment. Undergraduate cohorts exhibit similarly limited racial and geographic variety, with Asian and international students each comprising only a tiny share of both incoming freshmen and continuing undergraduates. Domestic White students form the clear majority across both degree levels. Gender balances diverge between academic divisions: female students make up nearly three-quarters of the graduate population, while the undergraduate body is evenly divided between men and women. For incoming applicants, these figures describe an institution where day-to-day campus community life reflects a predominantly domestic student population.

The student body at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota displays a pronounced age separation between its undergraduate and graduate divisions. In 2025, undergraduate education centered almost entirely on traditional college-aged individuals, with 37.3% of undergraduates aged 18 to 19 and 32.5% aged 20 to 21. This concentration supports a conventional daytime undergraduate learning environment. By contrast, the graduate division consists predominantly of working-age adults. Students aged 25 to 29 represented 24.2% of graduate enrollments, while those aged 40 to 49 comprised 21.4%. This broad age span among graduate learners points to mid-career professionals pursuing continuing education, creating two distinct educational environments across the university's degree levels.

International enrollment at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota represents a modest segment of the student body and has followed a downward trajectory over the past decade. In 2025, international students comprised 1% of the undergraduate population, a share higher than 17% of peer schools in its comparison group of similarly ranked private comprehensive universities. At the graduate level, international enrollment stood at 2% in 2025, also reflecting a gradual decline from earlier years. Among graduating students, international degree earners are concentrated within specific academic disciplines rather than distributed across all departments. At the undergraduate level, international graduates completed degrees in fields such as business analytics and general biology, while large majors like business administration and criminal justice had none. At the master's level, international representation appeared primarily in specialized management and business administration programs, while the largest programs in education, counseling psychology, and social work graduated entirely domestic cohorts.

Families exploring higher education options near Saint Mary's University of Minnesota will find several distinguished colleges and universities within roughly 100 kilometers. Carleton College, located 77.8 kilometers away, is a top-tier liberal arts institution ranked 16 in the 2027 U.S. News rankings. Also in Northfield, St Olaf College sits 79 kilometers away and holds a rank of 49 among national liberal arts colleges. In the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area, Macalester College is located 95.3 kilometers away and ranks 28 among national liberal arts colleges. For applicants interested in comprehensive research institutions, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities is situated 99.3 kilometers away and ranks 59 among national universities. These neighboring institutions provide prospective students with a wide spectrum of academic environments in southeastern Minnesota.

Campus safety records at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota show low overall levels of criminal activity, with safety reporting consisting almost entirely of university policy infractions. In 2025, the university recorded a crime rate per 1,000 students of 0.5, having fallen steadily from earlier levels. Looking at incident totals across the three-year period from 2023 to 2025, reports were dominated by internal administrative actions. Over those years, campus authorities logged 122 disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations and 47 disciplinary referrals for drug law violations. Violent crimes remained rare, with a small number of sexual offense reports and isolated arrests logged during the same three-year window. For families and prospective students evaluating campus conditions, these data indicate that safety oversight is primarily focused on residence hall conduct and substance policy enforcement rather than serious community violence.