College Factual  by our College Data Analytics Team
       Unbiased Factual Guarantee

Macalester College Data & Information Overview

62 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
31% Acceptance Rate
Want the scoop on Macalester College? We’ve put together a comprehensive report on the school that covers what majors Macalester offers, how the school ranks, how diverse it is, and much more.
Want to dig deeper into a particular stat? Just click on its tile and you’ll be taked to a more in-depth page on the figure. In addition, you can use the links below to quickly jump to any section on this page.

How Well Is Macalester College Ranked?

#217 Best Colleges in Nation
#7 Best Colleges in MN
Environmental Studies Highest Ranked Major
Quality Badge

2024 Rankings

College Factual recognizes the best colleges and universities in its annual rankings. These rankings include categories for best overall colleges, best colleges for each major, best value schools, and much more.

Macalester College was awarded 62 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is environmental studies.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.

Overall Quality

Macalester landed the #217 spot in College Factual's 2024 ranking of best overall colleges in the United States. The higher ed experts analyzed 2,217 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation.

Macalester is also ranked #7 out of 52 schools in Minnesota.

See all of the rankings for Macalester College.

Is It Hard to Get Into Macalester?

31% Acceptance Rate
59% Of Accepted Are Women
35% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

Macalester College has an acceptance rate of 31%, which means the school is serious about who it admits. Take your time in putting together a strong application that highlights why you are a good fit for Macalester.

Average Test Scores

About 35% of students accepted to Macalester submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 680 and 750. Math scores were between 660 and 765.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Macalester College  ( 680 to 750 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Macalester College  ( 660 to 765 )
200
800
Macalester received ACT scores from 39% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 29 and 33.

ACT Composite Scores for Macalester College  ( 29 to 33 )
1
36

Learn more about Macalester College admissions.

Macalester College Faculty

10 to 1 Student to Faculty
83% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio at Macalester is an impressive 10 to 1. That's quite good when you compare it to the national average of 15 to 1. This is a good sign that students at the school will have more opportunities for one-on-one interactions with their professors.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

In addition to the student to faculty ratio, some people look at what percentage of faculty members are full-time as a sign of how much time professors will be able to spend with their students. This is because part-time teachers may not be be on campus as much as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Macalester College is 83%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  83 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Macalester College

96% Freshmen Retention
86% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate of 96% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Macalester College enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That's certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  96 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Macalester the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 86%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%

On-Time Graduation Rate  86 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Macalester College.

Macalester College Undergraduate Student Diversity

2,012 Full-Time Undergraduates
32.3% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
58.7% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 2,049 undergraduates at Macalester with 2,012 being full-time and 37 being part-time.

How Much Does Macalester College Cost?

$27,764 Net Price
50% Take Out Loans
$25,056 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of Macalester is $27,764. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for Macalester

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$13,926 $10,543 $15,953 $23,609 $43,202

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Macalester, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Macalester, approximately 50% of students took out student loans averaging $6,264 a year. That adds up to $25,056 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Macalester is 0.2%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for Macalester College.

How Much Money Do Macalester Graduates Make?

$57,134 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor's degree recipients from Macalester make around $57,134 per year during the early years of their employment. This is good news for future Macalester graduates since it is 34% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

undefined

See which majors at Macalester College make the most money.

Location of Macalester College

Minnesota State
2,012 Full-Time Undergraduates
Large City Campus Setting
Macalester College is a private not-for-profit institution located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life.

Get more details about the location of Macalester College.

undefined

Contact details for Macalester are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 1600 Grand Ave, Saint Paul, MN 55105-1899
Phone: 651-696-6000
Website: www.macalester.edu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MacalesterCollege
Twitter: https://twitter.com/macalester

Macalester College Majors

36 Majors With Completions
577 Undergraduate Degrees
Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
Economics 57 $47,163
Mathematics 56 $60,896
General Biology 56 $32,091
Computer Information Systems 47 $73,129
Political Science & Government 39 $28,635
Child Development & Psychology 33 NA
Neurobiology & Neurosciences 30 $35,029
International Studies 28 $22,368
Natural Resources Conservation 19 $26,444
Geography & Cartography 15 $28,253

Learn more about the majors offered at Macalester College along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Learn more about online learning at Macalester College.

If you’re considering Macalester College, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against Macalester? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

Popular Reports

College Rankings
Best by Location
Degree Guides by Major
Graduate Programs

Compare Your School Options