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Messiah University

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Messiah University Overview

Messiah University is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Mechanicsburg is considered a suburb and offers tranquility and safety near the excitement of a city center.

What Is Messiah University Known For?

687 Undergraduate Awards
$33,243 Avg Cost After Aid
78% Acceptance Rate
  • The 2% student loan default rate at Messiah 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 Messiah.
  • For the 2019-2020 academic year, 57% of the faculty were full-time.
  • A student who earns a bachelor's degree from Messiah makes roughly $48,883 a year. This is 20% more than their peers from other colleges and universities.
  • The average Messiah student graduates in 4.1 years. That's better than the national average of 4.4 years.

Best Schools

Messiah University Rankings

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 Messiah.

Rank Ranking Name Share
#3 Best Music Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#6 Best Visual & Performing Arts Master’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#22 Best Dance Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#36 Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#37 Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#53 Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#54 Best Teacher Education Grade Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#57 Best Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#60 Best Drama & Theater Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It
#142 Best Accounting Bachelor’s Degree Schools Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

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

Rank Ranking Name Source
#1 Best Physical Education Teaching & Coaching Graduate Degree Schools College Factual
#13 Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Graduate Degree Schools College Factual
#16 Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Degree Schools College Factual
#25 Best Music Schools College Factual
#57 Best Teaching Bachelor’s Degree Schools Teaching Degree Search
#81 Best Education Schools College Factual

Where Is Messiah University?

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Contact details for Messiah are given below.

Contact Details
Address: One University Avenue, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
Phone: 717-766-2511
Website: www.messiah.edu
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MessiahCollege
Twitter: https://twitter.com/messiahcollege

How Do I Get Into Messiah?

You can apply to Messiah online at: www.messiah.edu/applynow

Admission Requirements for Messiah

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

How Hard Is It To Get Into Messiah?

78% Acceptance Rate
64% Of Accepted Are Women
92% Submit SAT Scores
With an acceptance rate of 78%, Messiah may not be as selective as some schools, but you should not take admittance for granted. Be sure to submit the best application you can.

Approximately 36% of accepted students are men and 64% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 77%, and the acceptance rate for women is 78%.

Average Test Scores

About 92% of students accepted to Messiah submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 550 and 660. Math scores were between 530 and 650.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Messiah University  ( 550 to 660 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Messiah University  ( 530 to 650 )
200
800
Messiah received ACT scores from 19% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 22 and 30. Math scores were between 21 and 29. Composite scores were between 23 and 29.

ACT English Scores for Messiah University  ( 22 to 30 )
1
36
ACT Math Scores for Messiah University  ( 21 to 29 )
1
36
ACT Composite Scores for Messiah University  ( 23 to 29 )
1
36

Can I Afford Messiah University?

$33,243 Net Price
73% Take Out Loans
2.3% Loan Default Rate
The overall average net price of Messiah is $33,243. 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 Messiah, approximately 73% of students took out student loans averaging $10,409 a year. That adds up to $41,636 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Messiah is 2.3%. 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.

Messiah University Undergraduate Student Diversity

2,424 Full-Time Undergraduates
60% Women
16% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
There are 2,614 undergraduate students at Messiah, with 2,424 being full-time and 190 being part-time.

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There are also 756 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 2,424 full-time undergraduates at Messiah, 40% are male and 60% are female.

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Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

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Race/Ethnicity Number of Grads
Asian 68
Black or African American 82
Hispanic or Latino 141
White 1,963
International Students 78
Other Races/Ethnicities 92

Geographic Diversity

Pennsylvania students aren't the only ones who study at Messiah University. At this time, 29 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 32 countries are represented at Messiah. The most popular countries sending students to the school are Malaysia, China, and Vietnam.

Online Learning at Messiah University

501 Took All Classes Online
1,468 Took At Least One Class Online
3.0% Avg Growth Over 4 Years
In 2019-2020, 1,468 students took at least one online class at the school.

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

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This school is the 71st 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 Growth Rankings of Messiah

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Messiah University was 3.0%. This is the #1,603 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at Messiah regardless of major.

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

Major 1-Year Growth Rate
Business, Management & Marketing 8%
Health & Physical Education 50%
Health Professions 11%
Marketing 13%
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies 45%
Teacher Education Subject Specific 21%

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

Major Growth Rate Rank
Marketing #234
Health & Physical Education #256
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies #283

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%.

Messiah 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
Other Health Professions 0 0 14 70 0 84
Music 0 12 7 42 0 61
General Engineering 0 55 0 0 0 55
Business Administration & Management 0 31 4 17 0 52
Health Sciences & Services 0 49 0 0 0 49
Nursing 0 37 0 7 3 47
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions 0 0 0 46 0 46
Teacher Education Subject Specific 0 30 13 0 0 43
Teacher Education Grade Specific 0 37 0 0 0 37
Human Development & Family Studies 0 34 0 0 0 34
Computer Science 0 26 0 0 0 26
General Psychology 0 26 0 0 0 26
Marketing 13 11 0 0 0 24
General Biology 0 23 0 0 0 23
Accounting 0 21 0 0 0 21
General Education 0 0 1 19 0 20
Teaching English or French 20 0 0 0 0 20
Religious Education 0 16 0 0 0 16
Radio, Television & Digital Communication 0 15 0 0 0 15
General English Literature 0 15 0 0 0 15
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services 0 4 11 0 0 15
Health & Physical Education 0 8 0 6 0 14
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology 0 12 0 0 0 12
Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution 0 12 0 0 0 12
Social Work 0 12 0 0 0 12
Fine & Studio Arts 0 12 0 0 0 12
Communication & Media Studies 0 11 0 0 0 11
Educational Administration 0 0 0 11 0 11
Biopsychology 0 11 0 0 0 11
Finance & Financial Management 0 9 0 0 0 9
Public Relations & Advertising 0 9 0 0 0 9
Political Science & Government 0 9 0 0 0 9
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies 0 8 0 0 0 8
Sociology 0 8 0 0 0 8
Drama & Theater Arts 0 8 0 0 0 8
International Business 0 7 0 0 0 7
Romance Languages 0 7 0 0 0 7
Allied Health Professions 0 7 0 0 0 7
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 0 7 0 0 0 7
Sustainability Science 0 6 0 0 0 6
Economics 0 6 0 0 0 6
History 0 5 0 0 0 5
Mathematics 0 5 0 0 0 5
Natural Resources Conservation 0 4 0 0 0 4
Philosophy 0 4 0 0 0 4
Criminal Justice & Corrections 0 4 0 0 0 4
Biblical Studies 0 4 0 0 0 4
Communications Technology 0 3 0 0 0 3
Chemistry 0 3 0 0 0 3
Dance 0 3 0 0 0 3
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods 0 2 0 0 0 2
Journalism 0 2 0 0 0 2
Design & Applied Arts 0 2 0 0 0 2
East Asian Languages 0 1 0 0 0 1
Physics 0 1 0 0 0 1
Other Business, Management & Marketing 0 0 0 0 0 0
Information Technology 0 0 0 0 0 0
Special Education 0 0 0 0 0 0
Biomedical Engineering 0 0 0 0 0 0
Civil Engineering 0 0 0 0 0 0
Electrical Engineering 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mechanical Engineering 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ethnic Studies 0 0 0 0 0 0
Health & Medical Administrative Services 0 0 0 0 0 0
Health/Medical Prep Programs 0 0 0 0 0 0
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies 0 0 0 0 0 0
Arts & Media Management 0 0 0 0 0 0
TOTAL 33 654 50 218 3 958

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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