Southwest Minnesota State University Overview

Southwest Minnesota State University is a public institution located in Marshall, Minnesota. The surrounding location of Marshall is ideal for students who enjoy the charms of a college town.

What Is Southwest Minnesota State University Known For?

• The highest award offered at Southwest Minnesota State University is the post-master's certificate.
• In 2017-2018, 50% of the faculty were full-time.

Southwest Minnesota State 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 Southwest Minnesota State University.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#3	Best Value History Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#6	Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#6	Best Value Parks, Recreation, Leisure & Fitness Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#6	Best Value Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#6	Best Value Biological & Biomedical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#7	Best Value Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#10	Best Plant Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#26	Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#59	Best General Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#80	Best Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards Southwest Minnesota State University has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#5	Best Value Colleges for General Psychology	College Factual
#6	Best Value Colleges for Psychology	College Factual
#9	Best Value Colleges for History	College Factual
#15	Best Value Colleges for Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies	College Factual
#16	Best Value Colleges for Biological & Biomedical Sciences	College Factual
#45	Best Value Colleges for Visual & Performing Arts	College Factual

Where Is Southwest Minnesota State University?

Contact details for Southwest Minnesota State University are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	1501 State St, Marshall, MN 56258-5468
Phone:	507-537-7678
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/SMSUToday
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/smsutoday

How Do I Get Into Southwest Minnesota State University?

You can apply to Southwest Minnesota State University online at: www.smsu.edu/admission/applyonline.cfm

Admission Requirements for Southwest Minnesota State University

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

How Hard Is It To Get Into Southwest Minnesota State University?

Southwest Minnesota State University has an acceptance rate of 81%, which means that is not quite as selective as some other schools. Still, you'll need good grades and a solid application if you want to be admitted.

Approximately 41% of accepted students are men and 59% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 80%, and the acceptance rate for women is 81%.

Average Test Scores

About 7% of students accepted to Southwest Minnesota State University submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 445 and 562. Math scores were between 490 and 540.

Southwest Minnesota State University received ACT scores from 79% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 15 and 22. Math scores were between 17 and 24. Composite scores were between 17 and 23.

Can I Afford Southwest Minnesota State University?

The overall average net price of Southwest Minnesota State University is $20,533. 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 Southwest Minnesota State University, approximately 66% of students took out student loans averaging $7,558 a year. That adds up to $30,232 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Southwest Minnesota State University is 5.9%. 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.

Southwest Minnesota State University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 6,846 undergraduate students at Southwest Minnesota State University, with 1,610 being full-time and 5,236 being part-time.

There are also 413 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 1,610 full-time undergraduates at Southwest Minnesota State University, 41% are male and 59% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Southwest Minnesota State University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	44
Black or African American	129
Hispanic or Latino	100
White	1,155
International Students	79
Other Races/Ethnicities	103

Geographic Diversity

Minnesota students aren't the only ones who study at Southwest Minnesota State University. At this time, 21 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 27 countries are represented at Southwest Minnesota State University. The most popular countries sending students to the school are Nepal, Taiwan, and Nigeria.

Online Learning at Southwest Minnesota State University

In 2019-2020, 1,549 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at Southwest Minnesota State University has changed over the last few years.

Online Growth Rankings of Southwest Minnesota State University

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Southwest Minnesota State University was 3.6%. This is the #1,590 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at Southwest Minnesota State University regardless of major.

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

Major	1-Year Growth Rate
Education	10%
Teacher Education Subject Specific	3%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at Southwest Minnesota State University 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 Southwest Minnesota State University.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Teacher Education Subject Specific	#359

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%.

Southwest Minnesota State 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	TOTAL
General Education	0	0	12	0	124	136
Business Administration & Management	0	0	36	0	71	107
Teacher Education Grade Specific	0	0	68	0	0	68
Health & Physical Education	0	0	58	0	0	58
Nursing	0	0	43	0	0	43
Teacher Education Subject Specific	2	0	24	1	6	33
Special Education	0	0	15	0	10	25
General Psychology	0	0	24	0	0	24
Finance & Financial Management	0	0	20	0	0	20
Marketing	0	0	20	0	0	20
Criminal Justice & Corrections	0	0	19	0	0	19
General Biology	0	0	18	0	0	18
Computer Science	0	0	13	0	0	13
Agricultural Economics & Business	0	0	12	0	0	12
Educational Administration	0	0	0	12	0	12
Liberal Arts General Studies	0	11	0	0	0	11
Social Work	0	0	11	0	0	11
Accounting	0	1	9	0	0	10
Hospitality Management	0	0	9	0	0	9
Plant Sciences	0	0	8	0	0	8
History	0	0	8	0	0	8
Fine & Studio Arts	0	0	8	0	0	8
Natural Resources Conservation	0	0	7	0	0	7
Sociology	0	0	6	0	0	6
Drama & Theater Arts	0	0	6	0	0	6
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	0	0	5	0	0	5
General English Literature	0	0	5	0	0	5
Culinary Arts	0	0	4	0	0	4
Writing Studies	0	0	3	0	0	3
Applied Mathematics	0	0	2	0	0	2
Mathematics	0	0	2	0	0	2
Political Science & Government	0	0	2	0	0	2
Communication & Media Studies	0	0	1	0	0	1
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	0	0	1	0	0	1
Philosophy	0	0	1	0	0	1
Chemistry	0	0	1	0	0	1
Music	0	0	1	0	0	1
Agricultural Public Services	0	0	0	0	0	0
Teaching English or French	0	0	0	0	0	0
Literature	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	2	12	482	13	211	720

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

More about our data sources and methodologies.