Saint Mary’s College of California Admission
Saint Mary’s College of California Undergraduate Program
Saint Mary’s College of California Application

The Facts

Saint Mary’s College of California is a rather small, private, Catholic school located in the town of Moraga, California, and is home to over 2,400 undergraduate students and approximately 1,150 graduate and part-time professional students. The college is perhaps best known for combining a strong foundational liberal arts education with terrific preprofessional courses. The school is also known for the strong morals and ethics that are taught to students, and the religious element is integrated into all parts of education. The school offers its students a wide rage of many majors, both preprofessional and in the liberal arts, however, some of the most popular with students include majors in areas of business, psychology, communications, liberal and civic studies, as well as English.

Admission to Saint Mary’s College is not terrifically competitive numerically, however, the students who do apply tend to be very motivated and academically successful in the past. Last year, over 3,170 students applied for admission to the school and approximately 2,600 of those students were accepted. Eventually however, only about 560 of the admitted students actually enrolled for the coming Fall semester. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 1020 to 1200, and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 26 to 30. Additionally, more than 60% of those admitted were ranked in the top 25% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of about 3.3.

Saint Mary’s College has a very manageable student to faculty ratio of 12:1, and the family values element of the school certainly applies to the professors. It is rare to find a class with more than 20 students, and professors make sure to be as accessible as possible so that students never feel abandoned. Most students say that they feel there is some competition between students, although it doesn’t really seem to bother most students, who say they think it fosters a stronger work ethic.

The Social Scene

The town of Moraga, California is located just outside of the city of San Francisco, which is only a brief 20 minute drive away, and weekend trips into the city are a popular weekend road trip for those students who own cars. The town of Moraga itself is quite cute and just as wealthy, and the residents are extremely supportive of the school. The town is located in the middle of beautiful hills and natural surroundings, and many students take advantage of the great outdoors with hikes and camping.

There are no fraternities and sororities at the school, but most students don’t seem to care very much. There are some popular bars in town that aren’t very strict when it comes to carding, and many students drink on the weekends, but rarely on campus, due to the administration’s strict dry policy.

The dating scene is kind of tame, and most people prefer to keep the dating activities quite chaste.

What’s Good

“There is a great range of academics here, and not only can you study liberal arts, but you also get preprofessional training.”

“The professors really really care about you. I’ve had a couple that have invited me to their house for coffee.”

“The campus is gorgeous, and it feels kind of like a resort. It’s nice to be surrounded by such nice nature.”

What’s Bad

“You feel kind of isolated up here in the hills. Unless you have a car to go to San Francisco, you’re kind of stuck here.”

“There’s a pretty limited amount of student activities. There are some clubs, but most of them are really religious and not very fun.”

“The town is really expensive, and it’s tough to do anything there as a poor college student.”

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