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South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Data & Information Overview

139 awards Ranking Badges
80% Acceptance Rate
4% Student Loan Default Rate
Want the scoop on South Dakota School of Mines and Technology? We’ve put together a comprehensive report on the school that covers what majors SD Mines offers, how the school ranks, how diverse it is, and much more.
Want to know more about a specific stat? Just click on its tile, and you’ll go to a page that goes more in-depth on that subject. You can also use the links below to go directly to any section on this page.

How Well Is South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Ranked?

Construction Engineering Highest Ranked Major

2024 Rankings

College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.

South Dakota School of Mines and Technology was awarded 139 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is construction engineering.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

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Overall Quality

SD Mines was not ranked in College Factual's 2024 Best Overall Colleges report. This could be for a number of reasons, including lack of data.

See all of the rankings for South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

Is It Hard to Get Into SD Mines?

80% Acceptance Rate
24% Of Accepted Are Women
26% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

The acceptance rate at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology is 80%. That's higher than the rate at many schools, but still low enough to be considered somewhat selective. If you want to get in, you'll need good grades and to be able to show that SD Mines is a good fit for you.

Average Test Scores

About 26% of students accepted to SD Mines submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 565 and 665. Math scores were between 590 and 690.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for South Dakota School of Mines and Technology  ( 565 to 665 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for South Dakota School of Mines and Technology  ( 590 to 690 )
200
800
SD Mines received ACT scores from 84% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 24 and 29.

ACT Composite Scores for South Dakota School of Mines and Technology  ( 24 to 29 )
1
36

Learn more about South Dakota School of Mines and Technology admissions.

South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Faculty

11 to 1 Student to Faculty
89% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio at SD Mines is an impressive 11 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

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 South Dakota School of Mines and Technology is 89%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  89 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

70% Freshmen Retention
16% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate tells us what percentage of first-year, full-time students choose to continue on to their sophomore year at a particular school. The rate at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology is 70%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.

Freshmen Retention Rate  70 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

When we say that a student has graduated on time, we mean that they have finished their bachelor's degree within four years. The on-time graduation rate at SD Mines is 16%. That's lower than the national rate of 33.3%

On-Time Graduation Rate  16 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Undergraduate Student Diversity

1,701 Full-Time Undergraduates
11.2% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
24.0% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 2,146 undergraduates at SD Mines with 1,701 being full-time and 445 being part-time.

How Much Does South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Cost?

$19,919 Net Price
54% Take Out Loans
$30,544 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of SD Mines is $19,919. 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 SD Mines

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$16,705 $16,736 $19,754 $21,542 $21,141

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 SD Mines, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

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 SD Mines, approximately 54% of students took out student loans averaging $7,636 a year. That adds up to $30,544 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at SD Mines is 3.7%. 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 South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

How Much Money Do SD Mines Graduates Make?

$71,287 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor's degree from SD Mines make about $71,287 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. That's great news for SD Mines students since it is 68% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

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See which majors at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology make the most money.

Location of South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

South Dakota State
1,701 Full-Time Undergraduates
Small City Campus Setting
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology is a public institution situated in Rapid City, South Dakota. The location of SD Mines is great for students who prefer living in an urban area.

Get more details about the location of South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

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Contact details for SD Mines are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 501 E Saint Joseph St, Rapid City, SD 57701-3995
Phone: 605-394-2511
Website: https://www.sdsmt.edu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sdsmt
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sdsmt

South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Majors

28 Majors With Completions
360 Undergraduate Degrees
132 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 28 majors graduated from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. Of these students, 360 received undergraduate degrees and 132 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
Mechanical Engineering 64 $63,634
Civil Engineering 47 $62,408
Computer Information Systems 47 NA
Industrial Engineering 41 $64,319
Chemical Engineering 31 $57,674
Electrical Engineering 23 $64,157
Metallurgical Engineering 18 NA
Mining Engineering 14 NA
Biotechnology 13 NA
Geological & Earth Sciences 9 NA

Learn more about the majors offered at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at SD Mines

15% Take At Least One Class Online
5% Take All Classes Online

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.

In 2020-2021, 371 students took at least one online class at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. This is a decrease from the 2,079 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 371 112
2019-2020 2,079 265
2018-2019 114 72
2017-2018 136 64
2016-2017 138 85

Learn more about online learning at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

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.

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