Best Catholic Colleges in Minnesota

Every international student in Minnesota has various schools to choose from; the state is home to 32 public universities and colleges and 20 private institutions. There are nearly 9,890 international students who currently study in Minnesota, and most of them attend the University of Minnesota.

To help you pick up the best college or university for your higher studies in Minnesota, we have listed some top options for you. The list will assist you in knowing accurate information about the universities and colleges within the state.

Saint John’s University

The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University are two closely related private, Roman Catholic higher education institutions in Minnesota. The College of Saint Benedict is in St. Joseph and is a women’s college; Saint John’s University is in Collegeville and is a men’s college. Students at both institutions have a shared curriculum and access to the resources of both campuses. Ninety per cent of CSB/SJU graduates finish in four years, 95% of CSB/SJU students receive financial aid, and 95% of CSB/SJU alums rate their college experience as good or excellent.

Tuition Fees: 46,460 USD
ACT/SAT Score: 1000-1080 SAT/ 22-27 ACT
Acceptance Rate: 83%
Graduation Rate: 84%
Required GPA: 3.5
Rank: ranked #102 in National Liberal Arts Colleges
Contact No.: +1 320-363-2011
Location: Collegeville, MN

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St. Catherine University–College For Women

St. Catherine University (St. Kate’s) is a private Catholic liberal arts university in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Established as one of the first higher learning institutions for women in the Midwest, the university was known as the College of St. Catherine until 2009. Today it offers baccalaureate programs for women plus graduate and associate programs for women and men. The university averages about 5,000 students annually. It focuses on recruiting and enrolling minority students and nontraditional-aged students. St. Catherine’s Weekend College — now College for Adults — was the second such program in the nation and the first in the Upper Midwest.

Tuition Fees: 40,984 USD
ACT/SAT Score: 450 SAT/ 18 ACT
Acceptance Rate: 73%
Graduation Rate: 58%
Required GPA: 3.5
Rank: ranked #249 in National Universities
Contact No.: +1 651-690-6000
Location: Saint Paul, Minnesota

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University of St. Thomas

The University of St. Thomas is known as a private, Catholic university in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Established in 1885 as a Catholic seminary, it is named after Thomas Aquinas, the medieval Catholic theologian and philosopher who is students’ patron saint. St. Thomas currently enrols nearly 10,000 students, making it Minnesota’s largest private, non-profit university. Each year it awards over 2,500 degrees including five different bachelor’s degrees (B.A., B.M., B.S., B.S.M.E. and B.S.E.E.). There are 88 major fields at the undergraduate level, with 59 minor fields of study and seven pre-professional programs. At the graduate and professional level, it offers 41 master’s degrees, two education specialist, one Juris doctor and five doctorates.

Tuition Fees: 45,780 USD
ACT/SAT Score: 1130 SAT/ 24 ACT
Acceptance Rate: 80%
Graduation Rate: 76%
Required GPA: 3.6
Rank: ranked #133 in National Universities
Contact No.: +1 651-962-5000
Location: Saint Paul, Minnesota

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Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota

The Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota is a private Lasallian Catholic university with an undergraduate residential College in Winona, Minnesota, and graduate and professional programs in Winona, the Twin Cities, and Rochester; with various course delivery sites around Minnesota and Wisconsin as well as Jamaica. The institution was founded in 1912 and is associated with the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. The university had a Fall Semester 2015 total enrollment of 5,900 students, including 1,171 traditional undergraduates on campus and approximately 4,729 graduate students primarily online or at satellite locations.

Tuition Fees: 36,670 USD
ACT/SAT Score: 620 SAT/ 20 ACT
Acceptance Rate: 91%
Graduation Rate: 61%
Required GPA: 3.44
Rank: ranked #33 in Regional Universities Midwest
Contact No.: +1 507-452-4430
Location: Winona, Minnesota

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The College of St. Scholastica

The College of St. Scholastica is a private Benedictine college located in Duluth, Minnesota. Established in 1912 by a group of pioneering Benedictine Sisters, today St. Scholastica educates almost 4,000 students annually and has graduated more than 29,000 alumni. It offers a liberal arts education and is located on 186 wooded acres overlooking Lake Superior. The college awards bachelor’s, master’s degrees, and doctoral degrees, and has a student to faculty ratio of 14:1. Undergraduate majors include liberal arts and science programs as well as pre-professional programs. Graduate degrees are provided in health professions, education, technology, business, and social work.

Tuition Fees: 38,282 USD
ACT/SAT Score: 1050-1270 SAT/ 22-26 ACT
Acceptance Rate: 66%
Graduation Rate: 65%
Required GPA: 3.48
Rank: ranked #258 in National Universities
Contact No.: +1 800-447-5444
Location: Duluth, Minnesota

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Bethany Lutheran College

Bethany Lutheran College (BLC) is a private Christian liberal arts college in Mankato, Minnesota. Founded in 1927, BLC is operated by the Evangelical Lutheran Synod. The campus overlooks the Minnesota River valley in a community of 53,000. Bethany Lutheran College provides Christian higher education in a challenging academic environment where personal mentoring guides students to pursue knowledge, truth, and discernment for productive and fulfilling lives.

Tuition Fees: 28,080 USD
ACT/SAT Score: 1050-1190 SAT/ 19-25 SAT
Acceptance Rate: 78%
Graduation Rate: 57%
Required GPA: 3.39
Rank: ranked #171-#221 in National Liberal Arts Colleges
Contact No.: +1 507-344-7000
Location: Mankato, Minnesota

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Augsburg University

Augsburg University is known as a private university in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was established in 1869 as a Norwegian-American Lutheran seminary known as Augsburg Seminarium. Today, the university enrols approximately 3,000 undergraduate students and 800 graduate students. The university is also known for its emphasis on service learning; volunteering in the community is an instructional strategy and a required part of a student’s coursework.

Tuition Fees: 39,955 USD
ACT/SAT Score: 1060-1300 SAT/ 18-23 ACT
Acceptance Rate: 69%
Graduation Rate: 56%
Required GPA: 3.17
Rank: ranked #21 in Regional Universities Midwest
Contact No.: +1 612-330-1000
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

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Carleton College

Carleton College is known as a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Established in 1866, the college enrolled 2,105 undergraduate students and employed 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is located between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling Arboretum, which became part of the campus in the 1920s. It is a small, liberal arts college offering 33 different majors and 31 minors, and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Students also have the option to design their own major. There are ten languages offered: Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Arabic, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. The academic calendar follows a trimester system where students usually take three classes per 10-week term.

Tuition Fees: 57,111 USD
ACT/SAT Score: 490–800 SAT/ 20-36 ACT
Acceptance Rate: 20%
Graduation Rate: 92%
Required GPA: 4.0
Rank: ranked #9 in National Liberal Arts Colleges
Contact No.: +1 507-222-4000
Location: Northfield, Minnesota

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University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is known as a public land-grant research university in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Twin Cities campus comprises Minneapolis and St. Paul’s locations approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) apart, and the St. Paul location is in neighbouring Falcon Heights. The Twin Cities campus is the oldest and largest in the University of Minnesota system. It has the sixth-largest main campus student body within the United States, with 51,327 students in 2019-20. It is the University of Minnesota System’s flagship institution and is organized into 19 colleges, schools, and other major academic units.

Tuition Fees: 33,325 USD
ACT/SAT Score: 1280-1380 SAT/ 22-27 ACT
Acceptance Rate: 52%
Graduation Rate: 78%
Required GPA: 3.71
Rank: ranked #=177 in QS Global World University Rankings
Contact No.: +1 612-625-5000
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

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Macalester College

Macalester College is known as a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Established in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S territories, the District of Columbia and 97 countries. For the Class of 2023, Macalester received 6,598 applications and accepted 31% of applicants. Of those admitted, the median SAT scores were 720 for critical reading and 730 for math, the median ACT score was 32, and 72% were in the top 10% of their high school class.

Tuition Fees: 56,292 USD
ACT/SAT Score: 650-730 SAT/ 29-33 ACT
Acceptance Rate: 41%
Graduation Rate: 88% 
Required GPA: 3.94
Rank: ranked #27 in National Liberal Arts Colleges
Contact No.: +1 651-696-6000
Location: Saint Paul, Minnesota

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