St Olaf College Overview
Located in Northfield, Minnesota, St Olaf College is a private not-for-profit institution. The surrounding location of Northfield is ideal for students who enjoy the charms of a college town.
What Is St Olaf College Known For?
- Students at St. Olaf have an easier time paying back their loans. The school's student loan default rate is only 0%, compared to the national rate of 10.1%.
- The bachelor's degree is the highest award offered at St. Olaf.
- For the 2017-2018 academic year, 71% of the faculty were full-time.
- Students who graduate from St. Olaf with a bachelor's degree make about $50,400 a year. That's 24% more than those who graduate from other schools.
- The average St. Olaf student graduates in 4.0 years. That's better than the national average of 4.4 years.
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St Olaf College Rankings
We have ranked St. Olaf as #284 out of 2,320 colleges and universities in the country in our 2021 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 15% of all schools in the nation.
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 St. Olaf.
Awards From Around the Web
The following table lists some notable awards St. Olaf has earned from around the web.
Rank | Ranking Name | Source |
---|---|---|
#16 | Best Value Colleges for Economics | College Factual |
#20 | Best Value Colleges for Mathematics & Statistics | College Factual |
#30 | Best Colleges for Teacher Education Subject Specific | College Factual |
#66 | Best Value Colleges for Psychology | College Factual |
#77 | Best Colleges for General Psychology | College Factual |
#95 | Best Colleges for Psychology | College Factual |
Where Is St Olaf College?

Contact details for St. Olaf are given below.
Contact Details | |
---|---|
Address: | 1520 St Olaf Ave, Northfield, MN 55057-1098 |
Phone: | 507-786-2222 |
Website: | wp.stolaf.edu |
Facebook: | https://www.facebook.com/stolafcollege?sk=wall |
Twitter: | https://twitter.com/StOlaf |
How Do I Get Into St. Olaf?
You can apply to St. Olaf online at: wp.stolaf.edu/admissions/apply/
Admission Requirements for St. Olaf
Submission | Required? |
---|---|
High School GPA | required |
High School Rank | recommended |
High School Transcript | required |
College Prep Program | required |
Recommendations | required |
SAT or ACT Scores | required |
TOEFL | required |
How Hard Is It To Get Into St. Olaf?
Approximately 40% of accepted students are men and 60% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 32%, and the acceptance rate for women is 56%.
Average Test Scores
About 27% of students accepted to St. Olaf submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 580 and 690. Math scores were between 570 and 710.
Can I Afford St Olaf College?
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 St. Olaf, approximately 58% of students took out student loans averaging $6,488 a year. That adds up to $25,952 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at St. Olaf is 0.5%. 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.
St Olaf College Undergraduate Student Diversity

Gender Diversity
Of the 3,050 full-time undergraduates at St. Olaf, 42% are male and 58% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity
The racial-ethnic breakdown of St Olaf College students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity | Number of Grads |
---|---|
Asian | 202 |
Black or African American | 83 |
Hispanic or Latino | 214 |
White | 2,081 |
International Students | 330 |
Other Races/Ethnicities | 140 |
Geographic Diversity
Minnesota students aren't the only ones who study at St Olaf College. At this time, 42 states are represented by the student population at the school.
Over 94 countries are represented at St. Olaf. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, Vietnam, and India.
St Olaf College Undergraduate Concentrations
The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.
Major | Bachelor’s | TOTAL |
---|---|---|
Economics | 92 | 92 |
General Biology | 90 | 90 |
Mathematics | 73 | 73 |
General Psychology | 63 | 63 |
Political Science & Government | 56 | 56 |
Chemistry | 49 | 49 |
Music | 46 | 46 |
General English Literature | 43 | 43 |
Romance Languages | 35 | 35 |
Natural Resources Conservation | 31 | 31 |
Area Studies | 30 | 30 |
Sociology & Anthropology | 29 | 29 |
Fine & Studio Arts | 28 | 28 |
Health & Physical Education | 26 | 26 |
Computer Science | 23 | 23 |
Religious Studies | 20 | 20 |
Drama & Theater Arts | 20 | 20 |
Nursing | 18 | 18 |
Philosophy | 18 | 18 |
History | 17 | 17 |
Teacher Education Subject Specific | 15 | 15 |
East Asian Languages | 14 | 14 |
Physics | 14 | 14 |
Social Work | 14 | 14 |
Ethnic Studies | 13 | 13 |
Liberal Arts General Studies | 13 | 13 |
Germanic Languages | 10 | 10 |
Classical Languages & Literature | 9 | 9 |
Sacred Music | 5 | 5 |
Dance | 5 | 5 |
Slavic, Baltic & Albanian Languages | 1 | 1 |
Classical & Ancient Studies | 0 | 0 |
Medieval Studies | 0 | 0 |
TOTAL | 920 | 920 |
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 Daniel Edwins a.k.a. Webmoof of English Wikipedia under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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