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Lesley University

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Lesley University Overview

Lesley University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The location of Lesley is great for students who prefer living in an urban area.

What Is Lesley University Known For?

588 Undergraduate Awards
$41,627 Avg Cost After Aid
84% Acceptance Rate
  • Students who want to work more closely with their professors have an easier time at Lesley since the student to facuty ratio is 9 to 1.
  • The 4% student loan default rate at Lesley 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.
  • Although it may not be available for every major, the doctor's degree is the highest award a student can attain at Lesley.
  • In 2017-2018, 26% of the faculty were full-time.
  • The average Lesley student graduates in 4.2 years. That's better than the national average of 4.4 years.

Best Schools

Lesley University Rankings

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.

Program Level Awards

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

Rank Ranking Name Share
#1 Best Multicultural & Diversity Studies Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#1 Best Value Multicultural & Diversity Studies Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#4 Best Other Interdisciplinary Studies Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#5 Best International Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#7 Best Value Other Interdisciplinary Studies Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#11 Best Value General Education Doctor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#12 Best Value Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#13 Best Value International Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#14 Best Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#58 Most Popular Education Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

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

Rank Ranking Name Source
#1 Best Multicultural & Diversity Studies Master’s Degree Schools College Factual
#1 Best Intercultural/Multicultural & Diversity Studies Master’s Degree Schools College Factual
#3 Best History Education Master’s Degree Schools College Factual
#34 Best Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies Schools College Factual
#34 Best Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies Schools College Factual
#61 Best Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies Schools College Factual

Where Is Lesley University?

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Contact details for Lesley are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 29 Everett St, Cambridge, MA 02138-2790
Phone: 617-868-9600
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LesleyUniversity
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lesley_u

How Do I Get Into Lesley?

You can apply to Lesley online at: www.lesley.edu/admissions-aid/how-to-apply

Admission Requirements for Lesley

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

How Hard Is It To Get Into Lesley?

84% Acceptance Rate
78% Of Accepted Are Women
The acceptance rate at Lesley University is 84%. This means that is not quite as selective as some schools, but you'll still need to submit a good application if you want to be considered by the admissions department.

Approximately 22% of accepted students are men and 78% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 76%, and the acceptance rate for women is 86%.

Can I Afford Lesley University?

$41,627 Net Price
74% Take Out Loans
4.4% Loan Default Rate
The overall average net price of Lesley is $41,627. 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 Lesley, approximately 74% of students took out student loans averaging $11,342 a year. That adds up to $45,368 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Lesley is 4.4%. 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.

Lesley University Undergraduate Student Diversity

1,394 Full-Time Undergraduates
78% Women
37% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
There are 1,861 undergraduate students at Lesley, with 1,394 being full-time and 467 being part-time.

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There are also 2,339 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 1,394 full-time undergraduates at Lesley, 22% are male and 78% are female.

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Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

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Race/Ethnicity Number of Grads
Asian 93
Black or African American 116
Hispanic or Latino 244
White 767
International Students 65
Other Races/Ethnicities 109

Geographic Diversity

Massachusetts students aren't the only ones who study at Lesley University. At this time, 27 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 45 countries are represented at Lesley. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, South Korea, and Japan.

Online Learning at Lesley University

4,200 Took All Classes Online
4,200 Took At Least One Class Online
197.5% Avg Growth Over 4 Years
There are 51 bachelor’s degree and 37 master’s degree programs available online at Lesley. In 2019-2020, 4,200 students took at least one online class at the school.

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

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This school is the 12th most popular in Massachusetts for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of Lesley

The following table shows how Lesley 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
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology #7 #4
Mathematics & Statistics #25 #25
Mathematics #26 #23
Other Education #34 #34
Biological & Biomedical Sciences #40 #28
Writing Studies #46 #31
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies #52 #40
Teacher Education Subject Specific #67 #64

Online Affordability Rankings of Lesley Rankings

The following table shows how Lesley is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are mostly online.

Major Tuition for In-State Students Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology #1 #1
Film, Video & Photographic Arts #1 #1
Multicultural & Diversity Studies #2 #2
Child Development & Psychology #7 #7
Fine & Studio Arts #10 #10
Communications Technologies & Support #13 #10
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions #13 #10
Natural Resources & Conservation #13 #13
Mathematics #13 #13
Community Organization & Advocacy #14 #14
Mathematics & Statistics #14 #11
Other Education #16 #15
International Studies #16 #16
Graphic Communications #16 #13
Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities #16 #16
Liberal Arts General Studies #16 #16
Natural Resources Conservation #19 #19
Writing Studies #22 #22
General Biology #22 #22
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies #22 #19
Biological & Biomedical Sciences #22 #16
Teaching English or French #27 #27
General Visual & Performing Arts #27 #27
Student Counseling #30 #30
English Language & Literature #31 #28
Social Work #31 #31
Political Science & Government #38 #35
General Social Sciences #47 #47
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology #52 #52
General English Literature #55 #55
Sociology #63 #60
Psychology #65 #62
General Education #65 #62

Online Growth Rankings of Lesley

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Lesley University was 197.5%. This is the #283 largest growth rate of all schools that are mostly online. This refers to all students at Lesley regardless of major.

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

Major 1-Year Growth Rate
Business Administration & Management 4%
Business, Management & Marketing 4%
English Language & Literature 6%
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences 41%
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 41%
Fine & Studio Arts 5%
General English Literature 22%
General Psychology 26%
General Visual & Performing Arts 25%
Health Professions 5%
Human Development & Family Studies 41%
Human Services 33%
Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities 5%
Liberal Arts General Studies 5%
Mathematics 38%
Mathematics & Statistics 38%
Mental & Social Health Services 3%
Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies 9%
Multicultural & Diversity Studies 22%
Natural Resources & Conservation 33%
Natural Resources Conservation 33%
Psychology 11%
Public Administration & Social Service 37%
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions 15%
Visual & Performing Arts 13%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at Lesley ranks compared to all other mostly online schools that offer a specific major.

Major Growth Rate Rank
Mathematics #1
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology #1
Film, Video & Photographic Arts #1
General Visual & Performing Arts #1
Political Science & Government #1
International Studies #1
Multicultural & Diversity Studies #1
Sociology #3
General English Literature #4
Graphic Communications #4
History #4
History #4
Communications Technologies & Support #4
Other Education #4
Community Organization & Advocacy #5
Child Development & Psychology #6
General Education #7
Fine & Studio Arts #7
General Biology #7
Design & Applied Arts #7
Other Psychology #7
Natural Resources Conservation #7
Human Development & Family Studies #8
Writing Studies #9
Human Services #10
Natural Resources & Conservation #10
Student Counseling #10
General Social Sciences #10
Communication & Media Studies #12
Social Work #13
Mathematics & Statistics #13
Mental & Social Health Services #14
English Language & Literature #15
Curriculum & Instruction #16
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies #16
Biological & Biomedical Sciences #16
Teaching English or French #17
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences #17
Visual & Performing Arts #19
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions #19
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology #20
General Psychology #22
Instructional Media Design #29
Teacher Education Grade Specific #35
Communication & Journalism #35
Social Sciences #37
Public Administration & Social Service #38
Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies #38
Psychology #43
Teacher Education Subject Specific #48
Special Education #49
Liberal Arts General Studies #66
Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities #66
Education #125
Business Administration & Management #133
Health Professions #157
Business, Management & Marketing #196

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%.

Lesley University Undergraduate Concentrations

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

Major Bachelor’s Graduate Certificate Master’s Doctor’s TOTAL
Mental & Social Health Services 6 3 206 11 226
Teacher Education Grade Specific 28 0 107 0 135
Teacher Education Subject Specific 11 0 99 0 110
Other Education 0 0 75 0 75
Liberal Arts General Studies 75 0 0 0 75
General Psychology 69 0 0 0 69
Special Education 0 0 68 0 68
Design & Applied Arts 67 0 0 0 67
General Education 7 0 31 24 62
Business Administration & Management 40 0 16 0 56
Writing Studies 9 0 33 0 42
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions 40 0 0 0 40
Fine & Studio Arts 17 0 23 0 40
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology 37 0 1 0 38
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 30 0 2 0 32
General Visual & Performing Arts 28 0 0 0 28
General English Literature 23 0 0 0 23
Multicultural & Diversity Studies 0 0 23 0 23
Human Development & Family Studies 22 0 0 0 22
Curriculum & Instruction 0 2 17 0 19
Human Services 18 0 0 0 18
Mathematics 15 0 1 0 16
International Studies 12 0 0 0 12
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies 0 0 12 0 12
History 9 0 0 0 9
Political Science & Government 8 0 0 0 8
Natural Resources Conservation 6 0 0 0 6
Sociology 5 0 0 0 5
General Biology 4 0 0 0 4
Other Psychology 0 0 0 4 4
Student Counseling 0 0 3 0 3
Instructional Media Design 0 0 2 0 2
Teaching English or French 0 0 2 0 2
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology 0 0 1 0 1
General Social Sciences 1 0 0 0 1
Social Work 1 0 0 0 1
Communication & Media Studies 0 0 0 0 0
Graphic Communications 0 0 0 0 0
Educational Administration 0 0 0 0 0
Child Development & Psychology 0 0 0 0 0
Community Organization & Advocacy 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 588 5 722 39 1,354

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.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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