Saint Mary’s College of California Overview

Saint Mary's College of California is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Moraga, California. Moraga is a good match for students who enjoy the safety and convenience of the suburbs.

What Is Saint Mary’s College of California Known For?

• Students at SMC may have an easier time interacting with their teachers since the student to faculty ratio at the school is 9 to 1.
• Students at SMC have an easier time paying back their loans. The school's student loan default rate is only 4%, compared to the national rate of 10.1%.
• The doctor's degree is the highest award offered at SMC.
• For the 2017-2018 academic year, 24% of the faculty were full-time.
• A student who earns a bachelor's degree from SMC makes roughly $56,300 a year. This is 38% more than their peers from other colleges and universities.
• On average, it takes about 4.1 years for students from SMC to earn a bachelor's degree. This is excellent when compared to the average of 4.4 years.

Saint Mary’s College of California Rankings

According to our 2022 analysis, SMC is ranked #199 out of 2,587 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation. SMC also holds the #24 spot on the Best Colleges in California ranking.

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.

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#49	Best Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#105	Best Master’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 SMC.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#3	Best Dance Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#11	Best Liberal Arts & Humanities Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#14	Best Health & Physical Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#16	Best Student Counseling Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#18	Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#35	Best Visual & Performing Arts Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#37	Best Accounting Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#72	Best Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#73	Best Business Administration & Management Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#87	Best Business, Management & Marketing Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#27	Best Student Counseling Schools	College Factual
#70	Best Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Schools	College Factual
#70	Best Liberal Arts General Studies Schools	College Factual
#71	Best Teaching Schools	Teaching Degree Search
#104	Best Business Administration & Management Schools	College Factual
#160	Best Business, Management & Marketing Schools	College Factual

Where Is Saint Mary’s College of California?

Contact details for SMC are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	1928 Saint Marys Road, Moraga, CA 94575
Phone:	925-631-4000
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/stmarysca
Twitter:	http://twitter.com/stmarysca

How Do I Get Into SMC?

You can apply to SMC online at: https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/undergraduate-admissions/apply-now

Admission Requirements for SMC

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

How Hard Is It To Get Into SMC?

With an acceptance rate of 77%, SMC 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 39% of accepted students are men and 61% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 78%, and the acceptance rate for women is 77%.

Average Test Scores

About 84% of students accepted to SMC submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 540 and 630. Math scores were between 530 and 623.

SMC received ACT scores from 34% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 21 and 28. Math scores were between 19 and 27. Composite scores were between 21 and 28.

Can I Afford Saint Mary’s College of California?

The overall average net price of SMC is $45,355. 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 SMC, approximately 51% of students took out student loans averaging $5,303 a year. That adds up to $21,212 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at SMC is 3.6%. 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.

Saint Mary’s College of California Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 2,468 undergraduate students at SMC, with 2,308 being full-time and 160 being part-time.

There are also 971 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 2,308 full-time undergraduates at SMC, 42% are male and 58% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Saint Mary's College of California students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	263
Black or African American	81
Hispanic or Latino	716
White	895
International Students	65
Other Races/Ethnicities	288

Geographic Diversity

California students aren't the only ones who study at Saint Mary's College of California. At this time, 25 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 46 countries are represented at SMC. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, Canada, and Australia.

Online Learning at Saint Mary’s College of California

Saint Mary’s College of California Undergraduate Concentrations

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

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Business Administration & Management	0	0	179	0	179
General Business/Commerce	174	0	0	0	174
Teacher Education Grade Specific	0	115	35	0	150
Health & Physical Education	57	0	21	0	78
Liberal Arts General Studies	58	0	11	0	69
Special Education	0	55	2	0	57
Student Counseling	0	0	54	0	54
Accounting	27	0	22	0	49
Communication & Media Studies	43	0	0	0	43
Educational Administration	0	2	26	9	37
General Psychology	33	0	0	0	33
General Biology	28	0	0	0	28
Other Visual Art	25	0	0	0	25
Political Science & Government	24	0	0	0	24
Economics	23	0	0	0	23
Writing Studies	0	0	22	0	22
History	17	0	0	0	17
Natural Resources Conservation	17	0	0	0	17
General English Literature	16	0	0	0	16
Sociology	16	0	0	0	16
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	14	0	0	0	14
Other Psychology	14	0	0	0	14
Other Health Professions	12	0	0	0	12
Dance	2	0	9	0	11
General Engineering	8	0	0	0	8
Other Statistics	8	0	0	0	8
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology	7	1	0	0	8
Chemistry	7	0	0	0	7
Child Development & Psychology	7	0	0	0	7
Ethnic Studies	6	0	0	0	6
Philosophy	6	0	0	0	6
Fine & Studio Arts	5	0	0	0	5
Romance Languages	4	0	0	0	4
Anthropology	4	0	0	0	4
Drama & Theater Arts	4	0	0	0	4
Physics	3	0	0	0	3
Applied Mathematics	2	0	0	0	2
Mathematics	2	0	0	0	2
Religious Studies	2	0	0	0	2
International Relations & National Security	2	0	0	0	2
Communication & Journalism (Other)	1	0	0	0	1
Area Studies	1	0	0	0	1
Classical Languages & Literature	1	0	0	0	1
Foreign Language, Literature & Linguistics (Other)	1	0	0	0	1
Mathematics & Computer Science	1	0	0	0	1
Archeology	1	0	0	0	1
Biological & Biomedical Sciences (Other)	0	0	0	0	0
Finance & Financial Management	0	0	0	0	0
International Business	0	0	0	0	0
General Education	0	0	0	0	0
Other Education	0	0	0	0	0
Teacher Education Subject Specific	0	0	0	0	0
Teaching English or French	0	0	0	0	0
English Literature (Other)	0	0	0	0	0
Health & Medical Administrative Services	0	0	0	0	0
Health/Medical Prep Programs	0	0	0	0	0
Health Sciences & Services	0	0	0	0	0
Biopsychology	0	0	0	0	0
General Social Sciences	0	0	0	0	0
Arts & Media Management	0	0	0	0	0
Music	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	683	173	381	9	1,246

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 Smcj0001 under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.