Missouri State University-Springfield

Admission to Missouri State University is accessible, as the institution accepts the vast majority of those who apply. For 2025, the university posted an undergraduate admit rate of 90.5%, reflecting open entrance criteria that make securing a spot relatively straightforward for most prospective applicants. In peer comparisons, this acceptance rate is higher than 67% of 30 similarly ranked public comprehensive universities. When students receive an acceptance offer, about one in four chooses to enroll, resulting in a yield rate of 25.6%. This yield indicates that Missouri State faces competition from other colleges for admitted applicants, though its drawing power still places it ahead of the median among its regional public peers. On the national stage, the university held rank 293 in the 2020 US News Best National Universities ranking before slipping to 358 in 2026 and improving to 342 in the latest 2027 edition. For high school seniors building a college list, these patterns point to an institution where qualified applicants face minimal hurdles to admission while institutional standing has fluctuated within the lower tiers of national universities.

Standardized test profiles for Missouri State University show modest academic benchmarks for incoming undergraduates. In 2025, the middle 50% of enrolled students achieved an ACT composite score between 19 and 26. The vast majority of test-takers choose the ACT, while those who submit the SAT recorded a median composite of 1150. This median stands higher than 88% of peer schools in its comparison group of similarly ranked public comprehensive universities. For prospective applicants, scoring within or near the middle ACT range indicates that a candidate aligns well with typical admitted students. Families evaluating college lists can view these marks as accessible standards, meaning that applicants with steady secondary school achievement and mid-range standardized testing can approach admission with realistic expectations. These testing figures illustrate an institution that maintains clear, attainable entry expectations compared to other public comprehensive campuses.

Undergraduate degree conferrals at Missouri State University are widely distributed across diverse academic fields rather than concentrated in a handful of programs. In 2025, the top three bachelor's majors accounted for only 19.6% of all bachelor's recipients, led by Psychology with 251 graduates, followed by Registered Nursing and Marketing. However, the university's largest undergraduate programs do not overlap with its highest-ranked offerings. The institution's recognized academic strengths appear predominantly at the graduate level, where US News ranked the Nurse Anesthesia program at 49 and Audiology at 70 in 2026. For students focused on career return, applied technical disciplines provide the strongest compensation. Federal earnings data from 2023 reveal that bachelor's graduates in Construction Management earned a median salary of $74,433 one year after finishing, leading the undergraduate cohort, followed closely by nursing and computer science alumni. Prospective students should recognize that while undergraduate studies offer broad accessibility and solid technical career paths, the university's national academic standing is largely driven by its specialized professional graduate healthcare degrees.

Missouri State University educates a predominantly domestic student body, with White students forming the clear majority across both undergraduate and graduate divisions and women making up over three-fifths of enrollment. In 2025, the incoming undergraduate class included 59 international students, representing 2.2% of first-year attendees. Asian students in the freshman cohort numbered 39, or 1.5% of the class. Both groups maintain similar modest shares among returning undergraduates, though the international footprint expands significantly at the graduate level where hundreds of advanced degree candidates study. Overall, the demographic layout demonstrates that Missouri State is deeply rooted in its regional domestic mission. For prospective applicants, this means campus culture is primarily shaped by domestic Midwestern undergraduates, while international student life is proportionally more prominent in graduate programs.

The age profile at Missouri State University highlights a notably youthful undergraduate community alongside a graduate population pursuing advanced training in early to mid-adulthood. In 2025, students under 18 made up 31.6% of the undergraduate body, while those aged 18 to 19 accounted for 25.6%. This notable presence of very young scholars—many likely engaged in dual-enrollment coursework—shapes an undergraduate environment centered on early college learning. By contrast, graduate enrollment is dominated by early-career adults, with 30.7% of graduate students falling between ages 22 and 24, followed by older cohorts returning for professional advancement. For prospective students, this age split creates two distinct environments: an undergraduate campus life marked by early-stage students and dual credit learners, and a mature, career-oriented graduate community.

International enrollment at Missouri State University follows contrasting paths between undergraduate and graduate programs. At the undergraduate level, international representation has trended downward over the past decade, settling at 2.4% of the undergraduate student body in 2025. In contrast, the graduate international population has expanded, with international students comprising 16.2% of all graduate students in 2025. This divide is equally visible in degree completions. Undergraduate international graduates remain widely dispersed with limited representation in major programs, reaching modest shares in fields like finance. Conversely, international master's degree recipients are heavily concentrated in technical and managerial disciplines. In 2025, international students made up 91.5% of master's graduates in Engineering/Industrial Management and 100% of those earning master's degrees in Computer Science. For international applicants, these patterns indicate that while undergraduate studies offer a mostly domestic campus setting, the university’s graduate technical and computing departments provide an established community of international peers pursuing professional degrees.

Applicants exploring Missouri State University can also consider several institutions within the surrounding region. Located 92.5 kilometers away in Arkansas, University of Arkansas is a national university ranked 191 in the 2027 U.S. News rankings. Within Missouri, Missouri University of Science and Technology is situated 97.7 kilometers away and shares the same national university rank of 191. Further north, University of Missouri-Columbia is a major public option 131.3 kilometers away, ranked 95 among national universities. For those interested in private undergraduate education, Hendrix College is located 152.3 kilometers away and ranks 100 among national liberal arts colleges. These nearby institutions offer a range of public research and private college environments.

Campus safety at Missouri State University has shown measurable improvement over the past decade. The crime rate per 1,000 students dropped from 15.5 in 2016 to 3.3 in 2025, reflecting a significant decline in overall campus safety incidents. When examining specific incident types reported across the three-year period from 2023 to 2025, campus records were primarily driven by non-violent alcohol infractions rather than major criminal acts. Disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations represented the largest category by a wide margin, totaling 159 incidents between 2023 and 2025. Property offenses also occurred, with 45 motor vehicle thefts reported over those same years, alongside smaller numbers of drug violations and burglaries. For prospective students and their families, these records suggest an active enforcement environment addressing substance-related conduct and vehicle security, while serious violent offenses remain relatively infrequent across the grounds of the university.