Fairfield vs Merrimack

Fairfield University and Merrimack College, both esteemed institutions of higher learning, offer distinct educational experiences. Fairfield, a Jesuit university in Connecticut, boasts a 68% acceptance rate, while Merrimack, a private Catholic university in Massachusetts, has a slightly lower acceptance rate of 63%. Fairfield's student body is more diverse, with 48% female and 52% male students, while Merrimack's student body is more evenly split, with 49% female and 51% male students. Both universities offer a wide range of undergraduate programs, with popular majors at Fairfield including Business, Psychology, and Biology, and popular majors at Merrimack including Business, Nursing, and Computer Science. With graduation rates of 84% and 82% respectively, both Fairfield and Merrimack provide students with the support and resources they need to succeed. Explore the comparison table below to delve deeper into the differences between these two excellent institutions and find the best fit for

	Fairfield University	Merrimack College
Overview
Location	Fairfield, Connecticut	North Andover, Massachusetts
Campus setting	Suburb: Large	Suburb: Large
College type	4 year	4 year
Control/business model	Private (Non Profit)	Private (Non Profit)
Calendar system	Semester	Semester
Degrees offered	Undergraduate and Graduate	Undergraduate and Graduate
Students retention rate	89.0%	84.0%
Common app member	Yes	Yes
Religious affiliation	Catholic	Catholic

Admission
Acceptance rate	55.8%	80.3%
Application fees	Undergraduate: $60 Graduate: $65
SAT range	1230 - 1380	N/A
ACT range	27 - 31	N/A
Students submitting SAT score	24.0%
Students submitting ACT score	7.0%
Total number of applicants	12,674	10,429
Total number of admissions given out	7,073	8,375
Admitted students who chose to enroll	1,256	967
Yield rate	17.8%	11.5%
Test scores (SAT/ACT)	N/A	N/A
High school GPA	Required	Required
Recommendation letters	Required	Required
High school transcript	Not required	Not required
English proficiency test (e.g. TOEFL)	Required	Required

Tuition and Fees
Sticker price	$71,860	$64,774
Average net price	$44,723	$35,500
Tuition	$52,070	$43,842
Room & board	Room/dormitory: $9,850 Meal plan: $6,260	Room/dormitory: $9,493 Meal plan: $7,323
Available payment plans	Tuition payment plan	Tuition payment plan

Financial Aid
Students receiving financial aid (Grants & scholarships)	94.0% Average amount $24,501	99.0% Average amount $25,528
Students receiving federal student loan	59.0% Average amount $5,418	64.0% Average amount $5,356
Students taking out private loans	9.0% Average amount $26,796	16.0% Average amount $22,739

Students and Campus
Undergraduate students	4,603 Men 42.1% Women 57.9%	4,120 Men 46.6% Women 53.4%
Graduate students	1,223 Men 33.1% Women 66.9%	1,332 Men 27.3% Women 72.7%
Racial/ethnic diversity	Very Low	Very Low
Out-of-state students	84.3%	N/A
International students	3.7%	1.9%
Campus local/setting	Suburb: Large	Suburb: Large
Dormitory capacity	3,467	2,713
First year students are required to live on campus?	No	No
Top 5 states where most U.S. students come from	Mississippi New York New Jersey Connecticut Pennsylvania	N/A

Academics
Popular study areas	Health Professions Business Education Communication and Journalism Engineering	Education Business Health Professions Engineering Computer and Information Science
Students to faculty ratio	12:1	15:1
Institutional accreditation	New England Commission on Higher Education	New England Commission on Higher Education

Outcome
Graduation rate	83.9%	69.0%
Dropout rate	9.9%	0.1%
Transferred out	6.1%	30.5%
Alumni salary by major (Top 10)	Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Doctoral Degrees) Year 1: $138,401 Year 2: $150,874 Year 3: $145,506 Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $112,773 Year 2: $104,749 Year 3: $112,599 Finance and Financial Management Services (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $58,022 Year 2: $64,608 Year 3: $82,549 Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $76,774 Year 2: $76,749 Year 3: $80,847 Accounting and Related Services (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $67,102 Year 2: $68,363 Year 3: $80,620 Accounting and Related Services (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $61,421 Year 2: $62,343 Year 3: $76,092 Management Information Systems and Services (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $69,338 Year 3: $75,987 Mechanical Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $66,682 Year 2: $68,666 Year 3: $75,412 Economics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $53,920 Year 2: $52,607 Year 3: $71,880 Mathematics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $61,516 Year 3: $70,429	Business Administration, Management and Operations (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $45,692 Year 2: $44,327 Year 3: $57,831 Communication and Media Studies (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $37,877 Year 2: $38,289 Year 3: $48,983 Education, General (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $45,240 Year 2: $43,160 Year 3: $48,263 Criminal Justice and Corrections (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $38,959 Year 2: $25,194 Year 3: $47,824 Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $31,026 Year 2: $28,816 Year 3: $44,114 Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $70,044 Year 2: $47,260 Year 3: N/A Natural Resources Conservation and Research (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $25,194 Year 3: N/A Accounting and Related Services (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $59,117 Year 2: $62,508 Year 3: N/A Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $38,444 Year 2: $36,312 Year 3: N/A Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $30,991 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A

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Fairfield vs Merrimack

Fairfield University

Merrimack College

Overview

Admission

Tuition and Fees

Financial Aid

Students and Campus

Academics

Outcome

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