Mount Saint Mary’s University Overview

Mount Saint Mary's University is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Los Angeles, California. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life.

What Is Mount Saint Mary’s University Known For?

• Students at MSMU may have an easier time interacting with their teachers since the student to faculty ratio at the school is 10 to 1.
• Students at MSMU have an easier time paying back their loans. The school's student loan default rate is only 3%, compared to the national rate of 10.1%.
• The doctor's degree is the highest award offered at MSMU.
• For the 2019-2020 academic year, 31% of the faculty were full-time.
• A student who earns a bachelor's degree from MSMU makes roughly $68,312 a year. This is 67% more than their peers from other colleges and universities.

Mount Saint Mary’s University Rankings

We have ranked MSMU as #361 out of 2,018 colleges and universities in the country in our 2023 Best Colleges list.

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.

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#89	Best Doctor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#157	Best Associate Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#4	Best Health/Medical Prep Programs Associate Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#6	Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#17	Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#29	Best Health/Medical Admin Services Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#45	Best Visual & Performing Arts Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#66	Best Nursing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#67	Best Clinical & Counseling Psychology Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#70	Best Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#81	Best Fine & Studio Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#100	Best Health Professions Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#6	Best Health/Medical Prep Programs Associate Degree Schools	College Factual
#19	Best Value Graduate Degree Colleges for Visual & Performing Arts	College Factual
#49	Best Nursing Schools	Nursing Degree Search
#93	Best Registered Nursing Schools	College Factual
#113	Best Nursing Schools	College Factual
#210	Best Health Professions Schools	College Factual

Where Is Mount Saint Mary’s University?

Contact details for MSMU are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	12001 Chalon Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90049-1599
Phone:	310-954-4000
Website:	https://www.msmu.edu
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/msmcla
Twitter:	http://www.twitter.com/msmcla

How Do I Get Into MSMU?

You can apply to MSMU online at: https://www.msmu.edu/admission/undergraduate-admission/application-instructions/

Admission Requirements for MSMU

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

How Hard Is It To Get Into MSMU?

With an acceptance rate of 89%, MSMU is fairly easy to get into, but you must be sure to submit the required materials.

Approximately 3% of accepted students are men and 97% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 60%, and the acceptance rate for women is 91%.

Average Test Scores

About 92% of students accepted to MSMU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 470 and 570. Math scores were between 430 and 540.

MSMU received ACT scores from 15% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 18 and 23.

Can I Afford Mount Saint Mary’s University?

The overall average net price of MSMU is $45,261. 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 MSMU, approximately 85% of students took out student loans averaging $7,306 a year. That adds up to $29,224 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at MSMU is 3.3%. 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.

Mount Saint Mary’s University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 2,071 undergraduate students at MSMU, with 1,607 being full-time and 464 being part-time.

There are also 674 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 1,607 full-time undergraduates at MSMU, 5% are male and 95% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Mount Saint Mary's University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	261
Black or African American	92
Hispanic or Latino	937
White	141
International Students	3
Other Races/Ethnicities	173

Geographic Diversity

California students aren't the only ones who study at Mount Saint Mary's University. At this time, 14 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 21 countries are represented at MSMU. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, South Korea, and Canada.

Online Learning at Mount Saint Mary’s University

In 2019-2020, 2,734 students took at least one online class at the school.

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

This school is the 109th most popular in California for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of MSMU

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at Mount Saint Mary's University was $44,474 for both in-state and out-of-state students. The following table shows how MSMU 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
Gerontology	#7	#7
Criminology	#60	#60
Writing Studies	#61	#61

Online Growth Rankings of MSMU

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Mount Saint Mary's University was 281.1%. This is the #228 largest growth rate of all schools that are mostly online. This refers to all students at MSMU regardless of major.

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%.

Mount Saint Mary’s University Undergraduate Concentrations

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

Major	Basic Certificate	Associate’s	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Nursing	0	45	162	1	8	0	216
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology	0	0	18	39	66	0	123
Business Administration & Management	0	4	29	0	22	0	55
General Psychology	0	0	38	0	0	0	38
Liberal Arts General Studies	0	11	16	0	5	0	32
General Education	0	0	15	0	15	0	30
Sociology	0	0	30	0	0	0	30
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	0	0	0	0	0	27	27
Criminology	0	0	21	0	0	0	21
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	0	0	14	0	7	0	21
Human Development & Family Studies	0	0	18	0	0	0	18
Social Work	0	0	18	0	0	0	18
Accounting	0	0	17	0	0	0	17
General Biology	0	0	16	0	0	0	16
Writing Studies	0	0	0	0	12	0	12
Political Science & Government	0	0	11	0	0	0	11
General English Literature	0	0	10	0	0	0	10
Health & Medical Administrative Services	0	0	0	0	7	0	7
Health/Medical Prep Programs	0	7	0	0	0	0	7
Child Development & Psychology	0	0	6	0	0	0	6
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	0	0	5	0	0	0	5
Journalism	0	0	5	0	0	0	5
Special Education	0	0	0	2	3	0	5
Entrepreneurial Studies	1	0	0	0	3	0	4
Educational Administration	0	0	0	0	4	0	4
Teacher Education Grade Specific	0	4	0	0	0	0	4
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology	0	0	3	0	0	0	3
International Business	0	0	3	0	0	0	3
Marketing	0	0	3	0	0	0	3
Romance Languages	0	0	3	0	0	0	3
Chemistry	0	0	3	0	0	0	3
Religious Studies	0	0	1	0	1	0	2
Security Science and Technology	0	0	2	0	0	0	2
Public Policy	0	0	2	0	0	0	2
Fine & Studio Arts	0	0	2	0	0	0	2
Mathematics	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
Philosophy	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
Human Services	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
Drama & Theater Arts	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
Music	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
General Business/Commerce	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Computer Information Systems	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other Education	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Area Studies	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
History	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gerontology	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Interdisciplinary Studies	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
General Social Sciences	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Geography & Cartography	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Arts & Media Management	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Design & Applied Arts	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	1	72	474	42	154	27	770

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 Dasandman008 under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.