Macalester College

Overview

Rankings

• #3 Best Colleges in Minnesota
• #3 Best Bachelor's Programs in Minnesota
• #3 Best Master's Programs in Minnesota
• #3 Best Computer Science Colleges in Minnesota
• #3 Best Psychology Colleges in Minnesota
• #3 Best Data Science Colleges in Minnesota
• #4 Best Biology Colleges in Minnesota
• #8 Best Colleges in Plains

Academics & Admissions

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

As a private institution in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Macalester College reviews applications selectively. The acceptance rate runs near 29%. Admitted students typically arrive with an average SAT score near 1,440. The graduation rate is roughly 89%.

Acceptance Rate

29%

Retention Rate

92%

SAT Average

1440

ACT Midpoint

31

SAT Range

1350–1510

ACT Range

30–34

Full-Time Faculty

84%

Faculty Salary (mo)

$11,951

Student–Faculty Ratio

10:1

Diversity Index

0.70

First-Gen Students

13%

Applicants

8,434

Admitted

2,397

Inside the Admissions Office

School-reported Common Data Set · 2024-25

The acceptance rate tells you how hard Macalester 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. 22% of admitted students go on to enroll here, making it a school most admitted students ultimately pass on.

Yield Rate

22%

of admits enroll

Submitted SAT

29%

of enrolled freshmen

Submitted ACT

23%

of enrolled freshmen

Cost & Financial Aid

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

Published tuition at Macalester College is $68,104, 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 $32,149. Students from families earning under $30,000 typically pay closer to $13,772 after need-based grants. The median graduate leaves with about $23,000 in federal student loans.

In-State Tuition

$68,104

Out-of-State

$68,104

Avg Net Price

$32,149

Median Debt

$23,000

Pell Grant Rate

17%

Federal Loan Rate

36%

Students Like You

Tell us a little about yourself to see what students like you have typically experienced at Macalester 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 Macalester College Worth It? Graduate Earnings & ROI

Ten years out, alumni of Macalester College earn a median of $63,878, roughly in line with the national average for college graduates.

6 Years After Entry

$46,244

8 Years

$57,106

10 Years

$63,878

Debt-to-Earnings

0.36x

Earning > $25K

59%

Social Mobility

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

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

Macalester College is a genuine engine of upward mobility. Its mobility rate, the share of students who start in the bottom income quintile and climb to the top, is 1.39%, well above the typical college. About 4.8% of students come from families in the bottom income quintile. Among bottom-quintile students who attend, roughly 29.3% go on to reach the top of the income ladder. The median family income of students sits near $115,500, a snapshot of the campus's socioeconomic mix.

Mobility Rate

1.39%

Bottom 20% → Top 20%

Success Rate

29.3%

If bottom 20% get in

From Bottom 20%

4.8%

Share of students

Parent Median Income

$156,924

today's $ (2015 cohort data)

Social Capital

Data: Opportunity Insights Social Capital Atlas

How Connected Is Macalester 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 Macalester College. Its economic connectedness score is 1.76, where about 1.0 is the national norm. Its friending bias is low (-0.01), a sign that students from different economic backgrounds actually mix rather than self-segregate. Around 18% of students take part in civic and volunteering activity.

Economic Connectedness

1.76

Cross-class friendships

Friending Bias

-0.01

Lower = more inclusive

Volunteering Rate

18.4%

Support Ratio

1.00

Community support

Innovation & Knowledge Creation

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

Macalester College produces inventors at a measurable rate, with 6 patents tied to its graduates.

Inventor Rate

0.63%

Top 36% nationally

Patents Produced

6

Linked to graduates

Inventors From Low-Income

1.11%

Bottom-20% families

Institutional Finances

Data: NCES IPEDS

Federal Grants

$5,430,000

Top Programs

The fields Macalester 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.

• Social Sciences 21% $76,630 early-career
• Biology & Biomedical 12% $41,621 early-career
• Psychology 10% $36,992 early-career
• Physical Sciences 9% $35,271 early-career
• Computer Science & IT 7% $85,045 early-career
• English & Literature 5% $18,794 early-career
• Visual & Performing Arts 4%
• Mathematics & Statistics 4% $61,913 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.