College Factual  by our College Data Analytics Team
       Unbiased Factual Guarantee

Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus Complete Information Guide

61% Acceptance Rate
6% Student Loan Default Rate

Find out more about how Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus ranks, how diverse it is, what majors it offers, and other essential facts below.

Want to dig deeper into a particular stat? Just click on its tile and you’ll be taken 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.

* Rankings

How Well Is Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus Ranked?

2026 Best Colleges 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.

Overall Quality

Penn State University Park was not ranked in College Factual’s 2026 Best Overall Colleges report. This could be for a number of reasons, including lack of data.

See all of the rankings for Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus.

What Are the Admission Requirements for Pennsylvania State U-Main Campus?

61% Acceptance Rate
63% Of Accepted Are Women
31% Submit SAT Scores

Getting Accepted

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.

Standardized Test Scores

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.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus  ( 620 to 700 )
200
800
SAT Math Scores for Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus  ( 620 to 720 )
200
800

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.

ACT Composite Scores for Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus  ( 27 to 32 )
1
36

Learn more about Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus admissions.

Teaching Staff at Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus

16 to 1 Student to Faculty
89% Full Time Teachers

Faculty Accessibility

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.

Full-Time Instructors

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 89%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  89 out of 100
0
100

Academic Performance at Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus

92% Freshmen Retention
86% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshman Success

The freshmen retention rate of 92% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus 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  92 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

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%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  86 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus.

Student Demographics at Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus

41,862 Undergraduate Students
25.5% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
46.7% Percent Women

The current enrollment includes 41,862 undergraduates at Penn State University Park.

Get more detailed information on the diversity at Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus.

Cost of Attending Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus

$16,772 Net Price
40% Take Out Loans
$25,628 Total Student Loans

The typical net cost at Penn State University Park is $16,772. 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 Penn State University Park

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$19,458 $19,743 $26,257 $33,579 $37,209

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.

Borrowing and Loans

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.

Post-Graduation Earnings for Pennsylvania State U-Main Campus

$63,435 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost

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.

Location of Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus

Pennsylvania State
41,862 Undergraduate Students
Small City Campus Setting

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.

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/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pennstate
Twitter: twitter.com/penn_state

Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus Academic Programs

30 Majors With Completions
29,188 Undergraduate Degrees

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 14,594 NA
Computer Information Systems 562 NA
Finance & Financial Management 533 NA
General Psychology 512 NA
Information Technology 465 NA
Mechanical Engineering 450 NA
Information Science 439 NA
Marketing 394 NA
Economics 377 NA
Accounting 358 NA

Learn more about the majors offered at Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at Penn State University Park

47% Take At Least One Class Online
1% Take All Classes Online

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.

19,596 students took at least one online class at Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus.

Learn more about online learning at Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus.

Comparable CollegesCurious 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.

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

Popular Reports

College Rankings
Best by Location
Degree Guides by Major
Graduate Programs

Compare Your School Options