Saint Olaf College Admission
Saint Olaf College Undergraduate Program
Saint Olaf College Application

The Facts

Saint Olaf College is a rather moderately sized, private liberal arts and sciences school affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church located in the town of Northfield, Minnesota, and is home to over 3,000 undergraduate students. The school is perhaps best known for combining a terrific liberal arts education with traditional Christian values; students take English classes right alongside with Theological studies. In fact, most of the students at the college are actually Lutheran, but it is not a requirement to apply to Saint Olaf. The school has innovative programs in areas as varied as music, dance, literature and philosophy, as well as a two year program in Great Conversations. The school offers its students a wide variety of majors, both preprofessional and in the liberal arts, however, some of the most popular with students include majors in the areas of biology, psychology, English, mathematics, as well as economics.

Admission to Saint Olaf College is not terrifically competitive numerically, however, the applicant pool has been growing with each passing admissions cycle, and the applicants tend to be extremely motivated and academically successful in the past. Last year, more than 2,500 students applied for admission to the school and approximately 1,900 of those students were accepted. Eventually however, only about 720 of the admitted students actually enrolled for the coming Fall semester. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 1160 to 1390 and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 25 to 30. Additionally, over 80% of those admitted were ranked in the top 25% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of about 3.64.

Saint Olaf College has a very manageable student to faculty ratio of 12:1, and it is rare to find a class with more than 18 students, and most classes usually have much less. The classes are usually discussion based, and students are encouraged to share their knowledge and allow their voice to be heard. The professors get high marks across the board, and usually do all they can to ensure that their students have a terrific academic and social experience. Many professors are even known to give entire classes their home phone numbers to ensure that they will truly be available for students 24--7.

The Social Scene

The town of Northfield is quite small, but there are some local amenities such as a coffee shop, bar, bowling alley, a movie theater, and the ever-popular Target to keep students occupied in their spare free time. Most students do own cars, which is almost a necessity when it comes to getting around. We hear that weekend road trips to the relatively nearby cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are popular weekend options. The school has no fraternities or sororities, but most students don’t seem to mind; they’re too busy studying to party very much, and we hear that drinking isn’t really very popular. The campus is officially dry, and there are even strict rules that limit when opposite sexes can visit one another’s segregated dormitories.

The dating scene is chaste at best; there’s nowhere to go to be alone, and the ever watchful eyes of the R.A.’s are a constant intrusion...

What’s Good

“There is a terrific sense of community here, and people really seem to trust each other. The honor code is rarely broken.”

“The campus is gorgeous and pretty historical. It’s nice to have class in buildings with so much history in their walls.”

“The study abroad programs are awesome, and provide a great escape from mundane Northfield.”

What’s Bad

“The administration is incredibly strict, and you kind of feel like they are treating you like a baby sometimes.”

“The school is pretty stingy when it comes to financial aid. It’s kind of impossible to get any more money than they’re already giving you.”

“There is no party scene here, and even if you tried to have a little shindig, it would probably broken up about ten minutes after it started.”

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