Dickinson State University Overview

Located in Dickinson, North Dakota, Dickinson State University is a public institution. The location of DSU is a good match for students who are interested in living in a college town while they pursue their degree.

What Is Dickinson State University Known For?

• Students who want to work more closely with their professors have an easier time at DSU since the student to facuty ratio is 10 to 1.
• The master's degree is the highest award offered at DSU.
• In 2017-2018, 59% of the faculty were full-time.
• A student who earns a bachelor's degree from DSU makes roughly $41,700 a year. This is 2% more than their peers from other colleges and universities.

Dickinson State University Rankings

We have ranked DSU as #247 out of 2,320 colleges and universities in the country in our 2021 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 15% of all schools in the nation.

These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.

Program Level Awards

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#5	Best Value Health & Physical Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#6	Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#6	Best Value Teacher Education Subject Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#7	Best Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#7	Best Value Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#13	Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#18	Best Value Business, Management & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#30	Best Health & Physical Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#43	Best Human Resource Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#84	Best Finance & Financial Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#7	Best Teaching Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Teaching Degree Search
#14	Highest Paid Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Graduates	College Factual
#28	Best Value Colleges for Business, Management & Marketing	College Factual
#60	Best Value Colleges for Teacher Education Grade Specific	College Factual
#69	Best Value Colleges for Education	College Factual
#82	Best Value Colleges for Business Administration & Management	College Factual

Where Is Dickinson State University?

Contact details for DSU are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	291 Campus Drive, Dickinson, ND 58601-4896
Phone:	701-483-2507
Website:	www.dickinsonstate.edu
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/DickinsonU

How Do I Get Into DSU?

You can apply to DSU online at: www.dickinsonstate.edu/apply

Admission Requirements for DSU

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	neither required nor recommended
SAT or ACT Scores	required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into DSU?

With an acceptance rate of 99%, DSU is fairly easy to get into, but you must be sure to submit the required materials.

Approximately 53% of accepted students are men and 47% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 99%, and the acceptance rate for women is 99%.

Average Test Scores

About 4% of students accepted to DSU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 440 and 505. Math scores were between 433 and 560.

DSU received ACT scores from 88% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 17 and 24. Math scores were between 17 and 24. Composite scores were between 18 and 23.

Can I Afford Dickinson State University?

The overall average net price of DSU is $19,892. 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

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 DSU, approximately 54% of students took out student loans averaging $6,188 a year. That adds up to $24,752 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at DSU is 5.6%. 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.

Dickinson State University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 1,321 undergraduate students at DSU, with 922 being full-time and 399 being part-time.

There are also 29 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 922 full-time undergraduates at DSU, 42% are male and 58% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	13
Black or African American	36
Hispanic or Latino	62
White	709
International Students	41
Other Races/Ethnicities	61

Geographic Diversity

North Dakota students aren't the only ones who study at Dickinson State University. At this time, 14 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 28 countries are represented at DSU. The most popular countries sending students to the school are Nigeria, Canada, and Nepal.

Online Learning at Dickinson State University

There are 23 bachelor’s degree and 1 master’s degree programs available online at DSU. In 2017-2018, 566 students took at least one online class at the school.

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

This school is the 7th most popular in North Dakota for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2017-2018.

Online Growth Rankings of DSU

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Dickinson State University was -0.2%. This is the #2,222 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at DSU regardless of major.

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

Major	1-Year Growth Rate
Agricultural Economics & Business	29%
Agriculture & Agriculture Operations	20%
Computer & Information Sciences	19%
Computer Information Systems	33%
Finance & Financial Management	29%
General Business/Commerce	60%
General English Literature	33%
General Social Sciences	86%
Health Professions	7%
History	80%
History	80%
Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities	36%
Liberal Arts General Studies	36%
Nursing	21%
Social Sciences	57%
Visual & Performing Arts	80%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at DSU 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 DSU.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Agricultural Economics & Business	#20
Data Processing	#21
Music	#25
International Business	#35
Mathematics	#36
General Social Sciences	#42
Mathematics & Statistics	#53
Agriculture & Agriculture Operations	#56
General English Literature	#58
History	#64
History	#64
Finance & Financial Management	#74
Visual & Performing Arts	#105
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	#106
English Language & Literature	#111
Human Resource Management	#133
General Business/Commerce	#175
Computer Information Systems	#177
Teacher Education Subject Specific	#191
Social Sciences	#193
Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies	#210
Teacher Education Grade Specific	#270
Accounting	#279
Computer & Information Sciences	#402
Nursing	#461

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%.

Dickinson State University Undergraduate Concentrations

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

Major	Basic Certificate	Associate’s	Bachelor’s	TOTAL
Business Administration & Management	0	0	52	52
Accounting	2	0	31	33
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	0	0	27	27
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants	0	26	0	26
Human Resource Management	3	0	19	22
Nursing	0	0	19	19
Finance & Financial Management	0	0	14	14
General Agriculture	0	0	13	13
Teacher Education Subject Specific	0	0	13	13
Teacher Education Grade Specific	0	0	11	11
Liberal Arts General Studies	0	11	0	11
Health & Physical Education	0	0	10	10
Computer Information Systems	0	0	9	9
Agricultural Economics & Business	0	7	0	7
Data Processing	0	0	7	7
General Social Sciences	0	0	7	7
General Business/Commerce	0	0	5	5
History	0	0	5	5
Business Support & Assistant Services	0	4	0	4
Communication & Media Studies	0	0	4	4
General English Literature	0	0	3	3
Mathematics	0	0	3	3
General Psychology	0	0	3	3
Arts & Media Management	0	0	3	3
General Biology	0	0	2	2
International Business	0	0	2	2
Natural Resources Conservation	0	0	2	2
Drama & Theater Arts	0	0	2	2
Marketing	1	0	0	1
Chemistry	0	0	1	1
Romance Languages	0	0	0	0
Public Health	0	0	0	0
Political Science & Government	0	0	0	0
Fine & Studio Arts	0	0	0	0
Music	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	6	48	267	321

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.