Macalester College
Saint Paul, MN
Macalester College is a private, Presbyterian liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota, a large city, with 2,131 undergraduates. Social sciences and mathematics are its signature fields: together they make up 28% of its bachelor's degrees, about three times their share across the colleges we cover. 87% of students finish within six years, and former students who are working earn a median of $63,878 ten years after starting.
Macalester College admitted 2,285 of 8,099 applicants for the fall 2023 entering class (28.2%).
- Acceptance rate
- 28.2%
- Fall 2023 class
- Tuition and fees
- $68,104
- 2024–25 school year
- Paid after aid
- $32,149
- Average, students with aid
- ACT, middle 50%
- 30–33
Every figure on this page is published by the college or a federal survey, compiled by GoodGoblin, and carries the source it came from. They describe the fall 2023 entering class, a read on the school, not a prediction about any one applicant.
What Macalester College is known for
Measured by the 684 bachelor's degrees it awarded in 2022–23, and what its graduates went on to earn.
Social sciences
19.0%
of its bachelor's degrees: two and a half times the 8.0% share across the colleges we cover.
Mathematics
9.2%
of its bachelor's degrees: about five times the 1.7% share across the colleges we cover.
- Computer and Information Sciences7210.5% of degrees$109,457+18% vs $92,374 nationally
- Mathematics639.2% of degrees$91,979+32% vs $69,562 nationally
- Economics618.9% of degrees$85,593About the $82,686 national median
- Biology497.2% of degrees$56,141About the $57,214 national median
- Political Science and Government436.3% of degrees$58,555−7% vs $63,293 nationally
- Research and Experimental Psychology416.0% of degreesToo few graduates to publish
Source: the College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), field-of-study data. Degrees are bachelor's degrees awarded in 2022–23. Earnings are the median for 2017–18 and 2018–19 graduates, in 2024 dollars, working and not enrolled, four years after graduating. Shares across the colleges we cover count every bachelor's degree at the colleges with a page here.
The place
Where it is, how big it is, and how students live.
Setting
Large city
Saint Paul, MN
Undergraduates
2,131
Fall 2024
Type
Private, nonprofit
Baccalaureate college, arts and sciences focus
Living on campus
Half or more
of undergraduates live on campus
Students per faculty member
10 to 1
Fall 2024
International students
15%
of undergraduates, fall 2024
Source: the College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), including the Carnegie Classification and the federal locale code it publishes.
What stands out at Macalester College
Three things Macalester College published, ranked by how much each could change what you actually do, not by how impressive it looks. Every one describes a class that has already enrolled.
The admit rate fell from 41% to 28% between fall 2018 and fall 2023.
Both ends are measured rates for classes that have already enrolled: a rate that moved, not a forecast. The fall 2023 figure is the one at the top of this page.
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2018 to fall 2023
30% of the enrolled class sent an SAT.
The SAT band on this page describes that share of the class, not all of it. Another 28% sent an ACT. Macalester College files test scores under “considered”.
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
Macalester College asks for no supplemental essay.
Of the 2 prompts we track for this application, none is one you would have to write.
Source: the prompts we track for this application
Every figure, in full
The same measured fields on every one of these pages. Nothing is filled in where the school published nothing.
Acceptance rate
28.2%
2,285 admitted of 8,099 applicants
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
SAT, middle 50%
Reading 680–750Math 670–760
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
ACT, middle 50%
30–33
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
Enrolled students who sent an SAT
30%
Counted per test: a student may send both.
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
Enrolled students who sent an ACT
28%
Counted per test: a student may send both.
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
Where do you actually stand at Macalester College?
The figures on this page describe a class that already enrolled. GoodGoblin reads them against your own transcript, scores, activities and budget, then builds the balanced list, the essay plan and the deadline calendar around what it finds.
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What Macalester College costs
The published price first, then what students who received aid actually paid, by family income.
Tuition and fees for 2024–25 were $68,104, and the full cost of attendance, with housing, food and books, was $82,991. After grants and scholarships, students who received financial aid paid $32,149 a year on average.
Tuition and fees
$68,104
2024–25 school year
Full cost of attendance
$82,991
Tuition, fees, housing, food and books
Paid after aid
$32,149
Average, students who received aid
What students paid, by family income
Each bar is that figure as a share of the $82,991 full cost.
- Under $30k$13,772Typical public university: $10,013
- $30k–$48k$11,982Typical public university: $10,847
- $48k–$75k$11,098Typical public university: $13,703
- $75k–$110k$20,527Typical public university: $17,979
- Over $110k$44,880Typical public university: $22,475
Source: the federal College Scorecard. Tuition and cost of attendance are for the 2024–25 school year; colleges usually raise them each year. What students paid is the average net price for first-year students who received federal financial aid. Typical public university: the median across the 338 public universities on GoodGoblin, for in-state students, compiled by GoodGoblin from the same federal data.
Where it leads
Who finishes, who stays, and what they earn and owe afterwards.
Finish within six years
87%
Our colleges' median: 63%
Return for a second year
92%
Our colleges' median: 79%
Earnings after 10 years
$63,878
Our colleges' median: $57,440
Median debt at graduation
$23,000
Our colleges' median: $23,725
Source: the College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education). Six-year completion describes students who started in fall 2018; second-year return describes students who started in fall 2023; earnings describe students who started in 2009–10 and 2010–11, measured in 2020 and 2021, in 2022 dollars; debt describes federal loans of students who graduated in fiscal years 2020 and 2021. Medians are across the 1,034 colleges with a page here.
How the rate has moved
Two measured admit rates from the federal survey, the years apart it reports them. A rate that moved, not a forecast.
Between fall 2018 and fall 2023 the admit rate fell from 41% to 28%.
What Macalester College says it weighs
The school's own words, from the form it fills in every year. Ranked as it ranks them.
- Course rigorrequired
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
- Recommendationsrequired
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
- Essayconsidered
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
- GPAconsidered
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
- Test scoresconsidered
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
- Class rankconsidered
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
Not considered
- Legacy
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
Essays on this application
2 essay prompts on the application: 2 are optional.
Published deadlines
Each date is read from the college's own materials and re-checked on a schedule.
More colleges on the record
Each of these pages carries the same measured figures and sources.
Other colleges in Minnesota
Closest acceptance rates in the same state.
- Carleton College22.3%
- St Olaf College43.4%
- Bethany Lutheran College51%
- University of Minnesota-Crookston58.4%
Colleges with a similar acceptance rate
Closest acceptance rates anywhere in the country.
The GoodGoblin College Data Report: five findings counted across 1,034 colleges ›
Build the list this school belongs on.
The figures on this page describe a class that already enrolled. GoodGoblin reads them against your own transcript, scores, activities and budget, then builds the balanced list, the essay plan and the deadline calendar around what it finds.
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