University of Puget Sound Overview

Located in Tacoma, Washington, University of Puget Sound is a private not-for-profit institution. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life.

What Is University of Puget Sound Known For?

• Puget Sound has an impressive student to faculty ratio of 9 to 1.
• The 3% student loan default rate at Puget Sound 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.
• The doctor's degree is the highest award offered at Puget Sound.
• In 2017-2018, 80% of the faculty were full-time.
• A student who earns a bachelor's degree from Puget Sound makes roughly $52,700 a year. This is 29% more than their peers from other colleges and universities.
• The average Puget Sound student graduates in 4.2 years. That's better than the national average of 4.4 years.

University of Puget Sound Rankings

We have ranked Puget Sound as #453 out of 2,587 colleges and universities in the country in our 2022 Best Colleges list. It is also ranked #12 out of 58 schools in Washington.

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.

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#37	Best Doctor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#72	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 Puget Sound.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#6	Most Popular Germanic Languages Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#13	Best Student Counseling Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#25	Best Rehabilitation Professions Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#25	Best General Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#32	Best Curriculum & Instruction Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#62	Best Health Professions Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#74	Best Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#96	Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#96	Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#121	Best Communication & Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

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

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#15	Best Student Counseling Schools	College Factual
#16	Best Counselor Education/School Counseling & Guidance Services Schools	College Factual
#27	Best Healthcare Schools	Healthcare Degree Search
#28	Best Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions Schools	College Factual
#68	Best Health Professions Schools	College Factual
#104	Best Education Schools	College Factual

Where Is University of Puget Sound?

Contact details for Puget Sound are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	1500 N. Warner Street, Tacoma, WA 98416
Phone:	253-879-3100
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/univpugetsound
Twitter:	http://www.twitter.com/univpugetsound

How Do I Get Into Puget Sound?

You can apply to Puget Sound online at: www.pugetsound.edu/admission/apply/

Admission Requirements for Puget Sound

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

How Hard Is It To Get Into Puget Sound?

With an acceptance rate of 87%, Puget Sound is fairly easy to get into, but you must be sure to submit the required materials.

Approximately 43% of accepted students are men and 57% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 81%, and the acceptance rate for women is 92%.

Can I Afford University of Puget Sound?

The overall average net price of Puget Sound is $44,888. 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 Puget Sound, approximately 51% of students took out student loans averaging $6,472 a year. That adds up to $25,888 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Puget Sound is 2.6%. 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.

University of Puget Sound Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 1,898 undergraduate students at Puget Sound, with 1,830 being full-time and 68 being part-time.

There are also 232 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 1,830 full-time undergraduates at Puget Sound, 40% are male and 60% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	143
Black or African American	44
Hispanic or Latino	194
White	1,199
International Students	10
Other Races/Ethnicities	240

Geographic Diversity

Washington students aren't the only ones who study at University of Puget Sound. At this time, 39 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 9 countries are represented at Puget Sound. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, Canada, and South Korea.

Online Learning at University of Puget Sound

University of Puget Sound Undergraduate Concentrations

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

Major	Bachelor’s	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	0	33	75	108
Political Science & Government	86	0	0	86
Business Administration & Management	70	0	0	70
General Psychology	65	0	0	65
General Education	0	43	0	43
General Biology	40	0	0	40
Computer Science	38	0	0	38
Economics	38	0	0	38
Communication & Media Studies	30	0	0	30
Biological & Physical Science	27	0	0	27
Health & Physical Education	26	0	0	26
Natural Resources Conservation	24	0	0	24
Sociology & Anthropology	23	0	0	23
Mathematics	22	0	0	22
Romance Languages	20	0	0	20
History	19	0	0	19
Cell Biology & Anatomical Sciences	18	0	0	18
Germanic Languages	18	0	0	18
Student Counseling	0	15	0	15
East Asian Languages	15	0	0	15
Fine & Studio Arts	15	0	0	15
General English Literature	14	0	0	14
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	13	0	0	13
Drama & Theater Arts	13	0	0	13
Writing Studies	12	0	0	12
Religious Studies	10	0	0	10
Chemistry	10	0	0	10
Music	10	0	0	10
Teacher Education Subject Specific	8	0	0	8
Geological & Earth Sciences	8	0	0	8
Philosophy	7	0	0	7
Classical Languages & Literature	6	0	0	6
International Business	5	0	0	5
Ethnic Studies	5	0	0	5
Science, Technology & Society	5	0	0	5
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	3	0	0	3
Physics	3	0	0	3
Curriculum & Instruction	0	2	0	2
Sociology	1	0	0	1
Management Information Systems	0	0	0	0
International Relations & National Security	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	727	93	75	895

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 Joe Mabel under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.