Gustavus Adolphus College

Overview

Rankings

• #2 Best Education Colleges in Minnesota
• #2 Best Communications Colleges in Minnesota
• #4 Best Colleges in Minnesota
• #4 Best Bachelor's Programs in Minnesota
• #4 Best Master's Programs in Minnesota
• #4 Best Computer Science Colleges in Minnesota
• #4 Best Psychology Colleges in Minnesota
• #4 Best Data Science Colleges in Minnesota

Academics & Admissions

Is It Hard to Get Into Gustavus Adolphus College? Acceptance Rate & Requirements

Based in Saint Peter, Minnesota, Gustavus Adolphus College offers a realistic path to admission, with roughly 61% of applicants receiving an offer. Admitted students typically arrive with an average SAT score near 1,290. The graduation rate is roughly 76%.

Acceptance Rate

61%

Retention Rate

88%

SAT Average

1290

ACT Midpoint

29

ACT Range

24–30

Full-Time Faculty

93%

Faculty Salary (mo)

$8,374

Student–Faculty Ratio

11:1

Diversity Index

0.37

First-Gen Students

15%

Applicants

3,781

Admitted

2,794

Inside the Admissions Office

School-reported Common Data Set · 2024-25

The acceptance rate tells you how hard Gustavus Adolphus College is to get into. Its Common Data Set tells you what happens once you are admitted: how many students say yes, how many arrived without test scores, and whether applying early tilts the odds. 15% of admitted students go on to enroll here, making it a school most admitted students ultimately pass on.

Yield Rate

15%

of admits enroll

Submitted SAT

0%

of enrolled freshmen

Submitted ACT

42%

of enrolled freshmen

Cost & Financial Aid

How Much Does It Cost to Attend Gustavus Adolphus College? Tuition, Net Price & Aid

Published tuition at Gustavus Adolphus College is $56,076, but few families pay that. The number to watch is net price, what students actually pay each year after federal grants and institutional scholarships. Here it averages about $22,900. Students from families earning under $30,000 typically pay closer to $12,015 after need-based grants. The median graduate leaves with about $26,774 in federal student loans.

In-State Tuition

$56,076

Out-of-State

$56,076

Avg Net Price

$22,900

Median Debt

$26,774

Pell Grant Rate

21%

Federal Loan Rate

54%

Students Like You

Tell us a little about yourself to see what students like you have typically experienced at Gustavus Adolphus College — the net price for your income, your admission odds, and the outcomes that follow. These are patterns from federal data, not predictions.

Graduate Outcomes

Is Gustavus Adolphus College Worth It? Graduate Earnings & ROI

Ten years out, alumni of Gustavus Adolphus College earn a median of $65,607, roughly in line with the national average for college graduates.

6 Years After Entry

$51,546

8 Years

$57,206

10 Years

$65,607

Debt-to-Earnings

0.41x

Earning > $25K

78%

Social Mobility

Data: Raj Chetty's Mobility Report Card · 30M+ anonymized tax records

Does Gustavus Adolphus College Drive Upward Mobility? Economic Mobility & Low-Income Outcomes

Gustavus Adolphus College is a measurable contributor to upward mobility. Its mobility rate, the share of students who start in the bottom income quintile and climb to the top, is 0.67%, in line with strong performers nationally. Access is narrower: only about 2.1% of students come from the bottom income quintile, typical of more selective, higher-income institutions. Among bottom-quintile students who attend, roughly 31.1% go on to reach the top of the income ladder. The median family income of students sits near $114,000, a snapshot of the campus's socioeconomic mix.

Mobility Rate

0.67%

Bottom 20% → Top 20%

Success Rate

31.1%

If bottom 20% get in

From Bottom 20%

2.1%

Share of students

Parent Median Income

$154,886

today's $ (2015 cohort data)

Social Capital

Data: Opportunity Insights Social Capital Atlas

How Connected Is Gustavus Adolphus College? Social Capital & Cross-Class Networks

Social capital, the web of cross-class friendships that researchers link to long-run upward mobility, runs high at Gustavus Adolphus College. Its economic connectedness score is 1.77, where about 1.0 is the national norm. Its friending bias is low (-0.00), a sign that students from different economic backgrounds actually mix rather than self-segregate. Around 9% of students take part in civic and volunteering activity.

Economic Connectedness

1.77

Cross-class friendships

Friending Bias

-0.00

Lower = more inclusive

Volunteering Rate

8.8%

Support Ratio

1.00

Community support

Innovation & Knowledge Creation

Patents, inventors, and research influence · Opportunity Insights & Times Higher Education

Gustavus Adolphus College produces inventors at a measurable rate, with 43 patents tied to its graduates.

Inventor Rate

0.63%

Top 36% nationally

Patents Produced

43

Linked to graduates

Inventors From Low-Income

3.28%

Bottom-20% families

Institutional Finances

Data: NCES IPEDS

Federal Grants

$6,712,756

Top Programs

The fields Gustavus Adolphus College awards the most degrees in, by share of completions. Where federal field-of-study data exists, we show what graduates in that major earned early in their careers. Each links to its degree guide — or see what someone with your income, scores, and major would pay and earn here in the Students Like You simulator.

• Business & Marketing 13% $68,909 early-career
• Biology & Biomedical 11% $31,207 early-career
• Psychology 8% $41,799 early-career
• Social Sciences 7% $61,913 early-career
• Visual & Performing Arts 7% $36,132 early-career
• Education 5% $50,101 early-career
• Physical Sciences 5% $33,903 early-career
• Health Professions 5% $74,862 early-career

Early-career median earnings by major (typically 1–2 years after completion, bachelor's level where available), in today's dollars (CPI-adjusted). Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard field of study. Distinct from the school-wide 10-year median; suppressed for small programs.