Macalester College vs Bard College

Macalester College and Bard College, two esteemed liberal arts institutions, offer distinct educational experiences. Macalester, located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, boasts a higher acceptance rate (58%) compared to Bard's (34%) in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. While both colleges emphasize interdisciplinary learning, Macalester's popular majors lean towards the social sciences, while Bard's strengths lie in the arts and humanities. Macalester's student body is more diverse, with international students comprising 15% of the population, while Bard's international student population stands at 10%. Both institutions boast impressive graduation rates, with Macalester's at 84% and Bard's at 83%. Explore the detailed comparison table below to discover more distinctions and determine which college aligns best with your academic aspirations and personal preferences.

	Bard College	Macalester College
Overview
Location	Annandale-On-Hudson, New York	Saint Paul, Minnesota
Campus setting	Town: Fringe	City: 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
Students retention rate	87.0%	96.0%
Common app member	No	No
Religious affiliation		Presbyterian

Admission
Acceptance rate	59.9%	31.3%
Application fees	Undergraduate: $50 Graduate: $65	$40
SAT range	N/A	1340 - 1515
ACT range	N/A	29 - 33
Students submitting SAT score		35.0%
Students submitting ACT score		39.0%
Total number of applicants	5,167	9,046
Total number of admissions given out	3,096	2,828
Admitted students who chose to enroll	473	601
Yield rate	15.3%	21.3%
Test scores (SAT/ACT)	N/A	N/A
High school GPA	Not required	Not 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	$72,868	$76,357
Average net price	$24,318	$30,939
Tuition	$57,498	$60,288
Room & board	$16,760	Room/dormitory: $7,272 Meal plan: $6,270
Available payment plans	Prepaid tuition plan Tuition payment plan	Tuition payment plan

Financial Aid
Students receiving financial aid (Grants & scholarships)	79.0% Average amount $50,598	87.0% Average amount $42,832
Students receiving federal student loan	49.0% Average amount $5,101	39.0% Average amount $4,799
Students taking out private loans	2.0% Average amount $16,225	29.0% Average amount $4,321

Students and Campus
Undergraduate students	2,171 Men 44.4% Women 55.6%	2,244 Men 43.3% Women 56.7%
Graduate students	420 Men 40.2% Women 59.8%	N/A
Racial/ethnic diversity	Moderate	Low
Out-of-state students	N/A	N/A
International students	14.7%	13.5%
Campus local/setting	Town: Fringe	City: Large
Dormitory capacity	1,400	1,332
First year students are required to live on campus?	No	Yes
Top 5 states where most U.S. students come from	N/A	N/A

Academics
Popular study areas	Liberal Arts Visual & Performing Arts Business Education Natural Resources and Conservation	Mathematics and Statistics Foreign Languages and Literatures Multidisciplinary Studies Social Sciences Computer and Information Science
Students to faculty ratio	9:1	10:1
Institutional accreditation	Middle States Commission on Higher Education	Higher Learning Commission

Outcome
Graduation rate	70.6%	89.7%
Dropout rate	9.9%	10.0%
Transferred out	18.3%	N/A
Alumni salary by major (Top 10)	Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $45,261 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A English Language and Literature/Letters, Other (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $19,624 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A Biological and Physical Sciences (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $30,818 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A Social Sciences, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $24,172 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A Fine and Studio Arts (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $17,518 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A Fine and Studio Arts (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $38,944 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A Music (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $27,353 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A Business Administration, Management and Operations (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $51,051 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A	Economics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $47,163 Year 2: $64,493 Year 3: $72,135 Mathematics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $60,896 Year 2: $52,107 Year 3: $56,193 Political Science and Government (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $28,635 Year 2: $35,274 Year 3: $43,620 Geography and Cartography (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $28,253 Year 2: $32,569 Year 3: $39,047 International/Global Studies (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $22,368 Year 2: $34,526 Year 3: $36,933 Psychology, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $24,116 Year 2: $31,133 Year 3: $34,521 Natural Resources Conservation and Research (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $26,444 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A Communication and Media Studies (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $21,508 Year 3: N/A Computer and Information Sciences, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $73,129 Year 2: $71,575 Year 3: N/A Education, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $33,281 Year 3: N/A

Compare Similar Colleges

The list of suggested college comparisons provided below is generated automatically by our system, utilizing statistics gathered from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and various online sources. If you don't find the colleges you wish to compare, please visit our comparison page. There, you can search for the specific colleges and initiate your comparison.

Bard College

Art Center College of Design