Merrimack College Overview

Located in North Andover, Massachusetts, Merrimack College is a private not-for-profit institution. Merrimack is located in a safe and convenient suburb.

What Is Merrimack College Known For?

• The student loan default rate at Merrimack is 4%, which is significantly lower than the national rate of 10.1%. That's great news for students who are worrying about paying off their student loans.
• The highest award offered at Merrimack is the post-master's certificate.
• In 2017-2018, 47% of the faculty were full-time.
• Students who graduate from Merrimack with a bachelor's degree make about $57,100 a year. That's 40% more than those who graduate from other schools.
• It takes the average Merrimack student 4.1 years to graduate. This is pretty good when compared to the national rate of 4.4 years.

Merrimack College Rankings

We have ranked Merrimack as #307 out of 2,587 colleges and universities in the country in our 2022 Best Colleges list. 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.

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#193	Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#2	Best Child Development & Family Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#3	Best Family, Consumer & Human Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#32	Best Biochemistry & Biophysics Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#37	Best General Biology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#42	Best Biological & Biomedical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#77	Best General Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#81	Best English Language & Literature Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#86	Best Business, Management & Marketing Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#98	Best Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#99	Best Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#1	Best Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions, General Schools	College Factual
#1	Best Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Educational Methods Bachelor’s Degree Schools	College Factual
#56	Best Family, Consumer & Human Sciences Schools	College Factual
#148	Best Biological & Biomedical Sciences Schools	College Factual
#191	Best Business Schools	Business Degree Central
#282	Best Business, Management & Marketing Schools	College Factual

Where Is Merrimack College?

Contact details for Merrimack are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	315 Turnpike St, North Andover, MA 01845
Phone:	978-837-5000
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/merrimack

Admission Requirements for Merrimack

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 Merrimack?

The acceptance rate at Merrimack College is 82%. 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 44% of accepted students are men and 56% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 81%, and the acceptance rate for women is 83%.

Can I Afford Merrimack College?

The overall average net price of Merrimack is $44,513. 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 Merrimack, approximately 73% of students took out student loans averaging $13,364 a year. That adds up to $53,456 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Merrimack is 4.3%. 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.

Merrimack College Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 4,202 undergraduate students at Merrimack, with 3,932 being full-time and 270 being part-time.

There are also 1,216 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 3,932 full-time undergraduates at Merrimack, 47% are male and 53% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Merrimack College students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	75
Black or African American	152
Hispanic or Latino	301
White	3,092
International Students	69
Other Races/Ethnicities	243

Geographic Diversity

Massachusetts students aren't the only ones who study at Merrimack College. At this time, 21 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 37 countries are represented at Merrimack. The most popular countries sending students to the school are India, China, and Saudi Arabia.

Online Learning at Merrimack College

There are 1 bachelor’s degree and 4 master’s degree programs available online at Merrimack. In 2019-2020, 4,238 students took at least one online class at the school.

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

This school is the 24th 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 Growth Rankings of Merrimack

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Merrimack College was 73.8%. This is the #516 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at Merrimack regardless of major.

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

Major	1-Year Growth Rate
Business, Management & Marketing	27%
Computer & Information Sciences	32%
Education	32%
Educational Administration	12%
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences	28%
Human Development & Family Studies	28%
Information Science	53%
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	21%
Public Administration	55%
Special Education	10%

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

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Information Science	#19
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	#25
Human Development & Family Studies	#28
Public Administration	#29
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences	#33
Special Education	#64
Educational Administration	#73
Public Administration & Social Service	#87
Computer & Information Sciences	#127
Education	#253
Business, Management & Marketing	#370

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%.

Merrimack College Undergraduate Concentrations

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

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	TOTAL
Business Administration & Management	79	0	43	122
Human Development & Family Studies	120	0	0	120
Teacher Education Grade Specific	62	0	45	107
Other Health Professions	31	0	71	102
Marketing	95	0	0	95
Health Sciences & Services	39	0	32	71
General Education	70	0	0	70
Special Education	5	0	62	67
Criminal Justice & Corrections	48	0	15	63
Accounting	39	0	22	61
Finance & Financial Management	57	0	0	57
Curriculum & Instruction	0	0	52	52
Communication & Journalism (Other)	50	0	0	50
Educational Administration	0	2	47	49
General Psychology	48	0	0	48
Mechanical Engineering	31	0	6	37
Information Science	0	0	32	32
General Biology	30	0	0	30
Civil Engineering	21	0	7	28
Political Science & Government	26	0	0	26
Teaching English or French	0	0	21	21
Health & Physical Education	21	0	0	21
Electrical Engineering	17	0	0	17
Mental & Social Health Services	0	0	16	16
Other Computer & Information Sciences	15	0	0	15
Teacher Education Subject Specific	0	0	15	15
General English Literature	15	0	0	15
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	0	0	14	14
Community Organization & Advocacy	0	0	14	14
Student Counseling	0	0	13	13
History	13	0	0	13
International Business	12	0	0	12
Public Administration	0	0	11	11
Human Resource Management	10	0	0	10
Nutrition Science	10	0	0	10
Economics	10	0	0	10
Allied Health Professions	1	0	8	9
Natural Resources Conservation	9	0	0	9
International Studies	7	0	0	7
Sociology	7	0	0	7
Design & Applied Arts	7	0	0	7
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	6	0	0	6
Ethnic Studies	6	0	0	6
Romance Languages	6	0	0	6
Interdisciplinary Studies	6	0	0	6
Public Health	5	0	0	5
Mathematics	5	0	0	5
Drama & Theater Arts	4	0	0	4
Engineering-Related Fields	0	0	3	3
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	3	0	0	3
Chemistry	3	0	0	3
Philosophy	2	0	0	2
Religious Studies	2	0	0	2
Liberal Arts General Studies	1	0	0	1
Physics	1	0	0	1
Pastoral Counseling & Specialized Ministries	0	0	1	1
Fine & Studio Arts	1	0	0	1
General Visual & Performing Arts	1	0	0	1
Music	1	0	0	1
Other Education	0	0	0	0
Computer Engineering	0	0	0	0
General Engineering	0	0	0	0
Health/Medical Prep Programs	0	0	0	0
Applied Mathematics	0	0	0	0
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	1,058	2	550	1,610

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
• Image Credit: By Merrimack Colleges Church under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.