by our College Data Analytics TeamPennsylvania State University-Main Campus is a public institution in University Park, Pennsylvania enrolling 42,284 undergraduates. It accepts 61% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 86%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #137 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 3%), 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.
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus ranks #137 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 3%.
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.
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus was awarded 556 badges in the 2027 rankings.
According to College Factual’s 2027 analysis, Penn State University Park is ranked #137 out of 5,159 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 5% of all schools in the nation.
Within the state, Penn State University Park holds the #8 spot on the Best Colleges in Pennsylvania ranking.
See all of the rankings for Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus.
The acceptance rate at Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus is a competitive 61%, so make sure you take your application seriously when putting it together. Even leaving out a minor detail could be a reason to move you to the rejection pile.
About 31% of students accepted to Penn State University Park submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 620 and 700. Math scores were between 620 and 720.
Penn State University Park received ACT scores from 5% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 27 and 32.
Learn more about Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus admissions.
With a student to faculty ratio of 16 to 1, Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus is about average in this regard as the nationwide rate is 15 to 1. While this does not translate directly to class size, it’s a good indicator of how much time professors will have to spend with their students on a one-on-one basis.
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 Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus is 86%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus has a freshmen retention rate of 93%. 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.
Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Penn State University Park 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%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus.
The current enrollment includes 42,284 undergraduates at Penn State University Park.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus.
The typical net cost at Penn State University Park 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 + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $19,845 | $20,049 | $25,667 | $31,834 | $37,831 |
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 Penn State University Park, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At Penn State University Park, approximately 40% of students took out student loans averaging $6,407 a year. That adds up to $25,628 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 6.4%. Although this is lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, you’ll still want to keep this in mind when taking out student loans. Get more details about paying for Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus.
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Pennsylvania State U-Main Campus with a bachelor’s degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $63,435 in their early years. This is good news for future Pennsylvania State U-Main Campus graduates since it is 29% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.
See which majors at Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus make the most money.
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus is a public institution located in University Park, Pennsylvania. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life. Get more details about the location of Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus.
Get in touch with Pennsylvania State U-Main Campus are listed below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 201 Old Main, University Park, PA 16802-1503 |
| Phone: | 8148654700 |
| Website: | www.psu.edu/ |
| Wikipedia: | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_State_University |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/pennstate |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/penn_state |
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 30 majors graduated from Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus. 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 | 14,703 | NA |
| Computer Information Systems | 613 | $75,375 |
| General Psychology | 524 | $29,652 |
| Finance & Financial Management | 513 | $61,200 |
| Information Technology | 506 | $65,214 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 464 | $65,376 |
| Management Sciences & Methods | 422 | $91,991 |
| Other Biological Sciences | 367 | $26,833 |
| Other Business & Marketing | 364 | $61,252 |
| Marketing | 349 | $51,414 |
19,596 students took at least one online class at Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus.
Online courses are a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.
Learn more about online learning at Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus.
Curious how schools stack up against Penn State University Park? Pit them head to head with 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