DeSales University Overview

Located in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, DeSales University is a private not-for-profit institution. Students who love country life may enjoy the rural location of DeSales.

What Is DeSales University Known For?

• The 5% student loan default rate at DeSales is better than the national rate of 10.1%. That's a good sign that you may be able to pay off student loans easier than your peers at other schools can.
• The doctor's degree is the highest award offered at DeSales.
• In 2017-2018, 39% of the faculty were full-time.
• A student who earns a bachelor's degree from DeSales makes roughly $49,700 a year. This is 22% more than their peers from other colleges and universities.

DeSales University Rankings

According to our 2022 analysis, DeSales is ranked #383 out of 2,587 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 15% of all schools in the nation.

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

DeSales has been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#104	Best Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at DeSales.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#12	Best Homeland Security Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#25	Most Popular Allied Health Professions Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#38	Best Biochemistry & Biophysics Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#38	Best General Biology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#45	Best Biological & Biomedical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#67	Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#75	Best Law Enforcement & Firefighting Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#83	Most Popular Drama & Theater Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#110	Best Health Professions Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards DeSales has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#58	Best Allied Health Professions Schools	College Factual
#101	Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools	College Factual
#103	Best Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting Schools	College Factual
#116	Best Biological & Biomedical Sciences Schools	College Factual
#203	Best Healthcare Schools	Healthcare Degree Search
#357	Best Health Professions Schools	College Factual

Where Is DeSales University?

Contact details for DeSales are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley, PA 18034-9568
Phone:	610-282-1100
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/desalesuniversity
Twitter:	http://www.twitter.com/desales

How Do I Get Into DeSales?

You can apply to DeSales online at: www.desales.edu/admissions-financial-aid/undergraduate-admissions-aid/how-to-apply

Admission Requirements for DeSales

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	required
SAT or ACT Scores	considered but not required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into DeSales?

DeSales has an acceptance rate of 82%, which means that is not quite as selective as some other schools. Still, you'll need good grades and a solid application if you want to be admitted.

Approximately 35% of accepted students are men and 65% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 82%, and the acceptance rate for women is 82%.

Average Test Scores

About 81% of students accepted to DeSales submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 510 and 630. Math scores were between 500 and 610.

DeSales received ACT scores from 15% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 22 and 28. Math scores were between 20 and 26. Composite scores were between 22 and 28.

Can I Afford DeSales University?

The overall average net price of DeSales is $41,033. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At DeSales, approximately 70% of students took out student loans averaging $12,013 a year. That adds up to $48,052 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at DeSales is 4.6%. 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.

DeSales University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 2,398 undergraduate students at DeSales, with 1,930 being full-time and 468 being part-time.

There are also 904 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 1,930 full-time undergraduates at DeSales, 39% are male and 61% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of DeSales University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	73
Black or African American	105
Hispanic or Latino	212
White	1,391
International Students	1
Other Races/Ethnicities	148

Geographic Diversity

Pennsylvania students aren't the only ones who study at DeSales University. At this time, 16 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 13 countries are represented at DeSales. The most popular countries sending students to the school are United Kingdom, Australia, and France.

Online Learning at DeSales University

In 2019-2020, 2,111 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at DeSales has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 24th most popular in Pennsylvania for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of DeSales

The following table shows how DeSales is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	#7	#7
Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing	#10	#10
Homeland Security	#74	#74
International Business	#75	#75

Online Growth Rankings of DeSales

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at DeSales University was 13.4%. This is the #1,252 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at DeSales regardless of major.

The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of DeSales majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.

Major	1-Year Growth Rate
Business Administration & Management	8%
Business, Management & Marketing	11%
Criminal Justice & Corrections	13%
Finance & Financial Management	18%
Health Professions	3%
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting	26%
Nursing	10%
Teacher Education Grade Specific	26%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at DeSales ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at DeSales.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Intelligence & Command Control Operations	#17
Military Technologies & Applied Sciences	#20
Other Education	#56
Teaching English or French	#64
Information Science	#73
Finance & Financial Management	#89
Instructional Media Design	#189
General Business/Commerce	#225
Special Education	#247
Computer Information Systems	#261
Teacher Education Subject Specific	#264
Educational Administration	#345
Teacher Education Grade Specific	#404

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

DeSales University Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Basic Certificate	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Business Administration & Management	2	69	0	119	0	190
Nursing	0	119	7	35	4	165
Allied Health Professions	0	0	0	78	0	78
Criminal Justice & Corrections	0	38	4	20	0	62
Accounting	0	48	0	0	0	48
General Psychology	0	43	0	0	0	43
Finance & Financial Management	3	36	0	0	0	39
Other Health Professions	0	39	0	0	0	39
Drama & Theater Arts	0	38	0	0	0	38
General Biology	0	33	0	0	0	33
Marketing	0	31	0	0	0	31
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	0	0	0	0	28	28
Health & Physical Education	0	27	0	0	0	27
Teacher Education Grade Specific	0	19	0	0	0	19
Other Education	0	0	0	18	0	18
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	0	14	0	0	0	14
Health & Medical Administrative Services	0	13	0	0	0	13
Computer Information Systems	1	11	0	0	0	12
Human Resource Management	0	11	0	0	0	11
Communication & Journalism (Other)	0	11	0	0	0	11
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	0	8	0	0	0	8
Dance	0	8	0	0	0	8
Homeland Security	0	7	0	0	0	7
Mathematics	0	6	0	0	0	6
Chemistry	0	6	0	0	0	6
Management Information Systems	0	5	0	0	0	5
Communication & Media Studies	0	5	0	0	0	5
Special Education	0	0	0	5	0	5
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	0	4	0	0	0	4
International Business	0	4	0	0	0	4
Information Science	0	0	0	4	0	4
Philosophy	0	4	0	0	0	4
Public Relations & Advertising	0	3	0	0	0	3
General English Literature	0	3	0	0	0	3
Romance Languages	0	3	0	0	0	3
History	0	3	0	0	0	3
Liberal Arts General Studies	0	3	0	0	0	3
Economics	0	3	0	0	0	3
Political Science & Government	0	2	0	0	0	2
Theological & Ministerial Studies	0	2	0	0	0	2
General Business/Commerce	1	0	0	0	0	1
Non-Professional General Legal Studies	0	1	0	0	0	1
Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing	0	0	0	0	0	0
Educational Administration	0	0	0	0	0	0
Instructional Media Design	0	0	0	0	0	0
Teacher Education Subject Specific	0	0	0	0	0	0
Teaching English or French	0	0	0	0	0	0
Intelligence & Command Control Operations	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	7	680	11	279	32	1,009

References

*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.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics

More about our data sources and methodologies.