by our College Data Analytics TeamMississippi State University is a public institution in Mississippi State, Mississippi enrolling 18,397 undergraduates. It accepts 78% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 67%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #654 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 13%), and its Value for Your Money analysis rates it a Fair Price.
Source: IPEDS 2025; College Scorecard July 2026; College Factual rankings 2027. Data as of: July 2026.
Mississippi State University ranks #654 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 13%.
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.
Mississippi State University was awarded 135 badges in the 2027 rankings.
Mississippi State is ranked #654 out of 5,159 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 20% of all schools in the nation.
Mississippi State is also ranked #2 on the Best Colleges in Mississippi list.
See all of the rankings for Mississippi State University.
Mississippi State University has an acceptance rate of 78%, which makes it somewhat selective. Make sure it’s not the only school you apply to, even if it’s your school of choice. Whether you get in or not will largely depend on how you compare to other applicants.
About 6% of students accepted to Mississippi State submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 560 and 670. Math scores were between 540 and 680.
Mississippi State received ACT scores from 85% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 21 and 29.
Learn more about Mississippi State University admissions.
The student to faculty ratio at Mississippi State University is about average at 16 to 1. This ratio is often used to gauge how many students might be in an average class and how much time professors will have to spend with their students on an individual level. The national average for this metric is 15 to 1.
Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.
The full-time faculty percentage at Mississippi State University is 83%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
Mississippi State University has a freshmen retention rate of 82%. That’s a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It’s also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is typically four years. This rate at Mississippi State for first-time, full-time students is 67%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Mississippi State University.
During the most recent academic year, there were 18,397 undergraduates at Mississippi State.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Mississippi State University.
The average net price of Mississippi State is $17,140. 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.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $14,332 | $14,372 | $18,671 | $20,704 | $22,987 |
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 price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Mississippi State, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
It’s not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Mississippi State, approximately 39% of students took out student loans averaging $6,677 a year. That adds up to $26,708 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 5.6%. 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 Mississippi State University.
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Mississippi State University with a bachelor’s degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $51,513 in their early years. This is in the same neighborhood of the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year. However, certain majors may produce higher-paying graduates.
See which majors at Mississippi State University make the most money.
Mississippi State University is an public institution situated in Mississippi State, Mississippi. The surrounding location of Mississippi State is ideal for students who enjoy the charms of a college town. Get more details about the location of Mississippi State University.
Get in touch with Mississippi State University can be found below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | Lee Boulevard, Mississippi State, MS 39762 |
| Phone: | 6623252323 |
| Website: | www.msstate.edu |
| Wikipedia: | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_State_University |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/msstate |
| Twitter: | www.twitter.com/msstate |
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 28 majors graduated from Mississippi State University. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.
| Most Popular Majors | Completions | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Disciplinary Studies | 5,933 | NA |
| Business Administration & Management | 608 | $49,710 |
| Teacher Education Grade Specific | 292 | $34,989 |
| Health & Physical Education | 271 | $28,472 |
| General Psychology | 261 | $24,831 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 242 | $67,632 |
| Other Interdisciplinary Studies | 242 | $26,291 |
| Marketing | 189 | $37,616 |
| Accounting | 173 | $45,897 |
| Geological & Earth Sciences | 160 | $44,421 |
7,639 students took at least one online class at Mississippi State University.
Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.
Learn more about online learning at Mississippi State University.
Curious how schools stack up against Mississippi State? Compare them side by side using College Combat, a free interactive tool for comparing colleges on the features you care about.
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.