Resources to Help You Find Massachusetts Colleges

Where to Start Looking to Find Massachusetts Colleges

Like many states, Massachusetts has a state planning website for college Your Plan for the Future. It provides planning guidelines as well as tools to apply to colleges and scholarships and track related information. As usual, you’ll find a basic college search function but it includes all US colleges. You have to create a login to use any of the features.

The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority (MEFA) website provides a variety of useful resources including a college admissions toolkit and webinars. The site provides a basic overview of the financial aid process including a breakdown of the types of financial aid for the state. You can also find a list of various financial aid programs and scholarships for Massachusetts residents. The website also lists free admission and financial planning seminars around the state.

If you are planning at starting at a community college, you’ll want to visit the MassTransfer. This site provides information to ease the transfer process from community college to state institutions. You can also use the Massachusetts College Online website to find college course offered online by a consortium of public institutions.

The Office of Student Financial Assistance at the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education lists state specific grants, scholarships, and tuition waivers. The website includes FAQs about the program.

Some Numbers to Help You Find a College

Massachusetts has 65 four-year institutions with 500 or more full-time undergraduates.  The 52 private Massachusetts colleges represent 66% of the enrollment while the 13 public universities account for 34% of the states 227,239 full-time undergraduates.

The average four-year graduation rate for private colleges is 58.6% and the five-year graduation rate for public colleges is 51.6%.  A total of 21 Massachusetts colleges meet the DIY College Rankings 50-50 profile requirements.

The average SAT score for college-bound seniors in Massachusetts was 516 for Critical Reading and 531 for Math. The 75th percentile scores were  590 for Critical Reading and 610 for Math. A total 18 colleges had 75th percentile scores equal to or higher than the state in both categories.

The top 20 colleges SAT test takers in Massachusetts applied to:

• University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Northeastern University
• University of Massachusetts Lowell
• Boston University
• University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
• University of New Hampshire
• Bridgewater State University
• University of Massachusetts Boston
• Salem State University
• Westfield State University
• University of Rhode Island
• Framingham State University
• University of Vermont
• University of Connecticut
• Quinnipiac University
• Suffolk University
• Boston College
• Fitchburg State University
• Worcester State University
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Massachusetts Colleges Conferences and Divisions

List of Massachusetts Colleges

In the following table, the four-year graduation rate is used for private colleges and the five-year rate for public colleges. The data are based on the data available from IPEDS in December of 2014 which are available on the DIY College Search spreadsheet.

Massachusetts Colleges with Graduation Rates and Test Scores
(Download PDF version)

Name	Type	Full-time Under- graduates	4/5 Yr Grad Rate	% Admitted	SAT CR 75th%	SAT Math 75th%	ACT 7 5th%	Net Price
American International College	Private	1397	28	68	490	500	21	19211
Amherst College	Private	1785	89	14	760	770	34	16550
Anna Maria College	Private	845	43	78				24915
Assumption College	Private	2022	70	74				26674
Babson College	Private	2106	84	28	640	710	30	25041
Bay Path College	Private	1179	46	58	550	540	22	21087
Becker College	Private	1449	16	63	550	570	24	29282
Bentley University	Private	4142	81	44	630	680	30	30501
Berklee College of Music	Private	3950	36	36				41408
Boston College	Private	9390	89	32	710	740	33	25564
Boston University	Private	16593	80	46	670	720	30	31798
Brandeis University	Private	3599	86	37	710	760	32	26952
Bridgewater State University	Public	8034	52	79	540	550	24	14504
Clark University	Private	2270	76	62				25332
College of Our Lady of the Elms	Private	1006	57	75	520	520	22	20838
College of the Holy Cross	Private	2877	89	33				25387
Curry College	Private	2068	35	67	515	520	20	31792
Dean College	Private	1076	62	68	480	470	19	26245
Eastern Nazarene College	Private	1302	41	56	550	530	24	18228
Emerson College	Private	3668	80	48	670	650	30	33371
Emmanuel College	Private	1857	51	60	590	590	26	30899
Endicott College	Private	2430	65	72	570	590	25	32171
Fisher College	Private	1229	4	63	460	460		25555
Fitchburg State University	Public	3438	44	72	540	550	22	11926
Framingham State University	Public	3884	47	52	560	570	25	17310
Gordon College	Private	1668	58	41	653	639	29	28500
Hampshire College	Private	1492	56	64				36334
Harvard University	Private	7240	87	6	800	800	35	16445
Lasell College	Private	1649	47	76	540	530	23	27041
Lesley University	Private	1460	35	67	600	570	26	33072
Massachusetts College of Art and Design	Public	1677	71	70	600	580	27	19069
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts	Public	1353	54	67	580	550	25	13600
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Private	4499	84	8	770	800	35	20726
Massachusetts Maritime Academy	Public	1333	64	77	550	600	24	13791
MCPHS University	Private	3723	47	89	570	630	26	32860
Merrimack College	Private	2604	54	79				29786
Mount Holyoke College	Private	2151	76	47				29481
Mount Ida College	Private	1167	29	61	490	490	20	29194
Newbury College	Private	851	24	60	480	460		24904
Nichols College	Private	1100	42	80	500	530	23	27058
Northeastern University	Private	13204	0	32	730	750	33	30376
Northeastern University Global Network	Private	1072
Regis College	Private	948	38	72	520	540	23	24597
Salem State University	Public	5834	39	69	540	540	24	14431
Simmons College	Private	1577	66	49	630	620	28	29907
Smith College	Private	2585	82	43				22907
Springfield College	Private	2128	58	70	550	580	25	27616
Springfield College-School of Human Services	Private	938
Stonehill College	Private	2458	82	71	610	620	28	31181
Suffolk University	Private	5236	41	83	560	570	25	27090
The Boston Conservatory	Private	540	66	36				43208
Tufts University	Private	5138	87	19	750	770	33	27096
University of Massachusetts-Amherst	Public	20505	71	63	640	670	29	19120
University of Massachusetts-Boston	Public	8759	35	71	550	580		10575
University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth	Public	6373	45	72	570	590	25	15718
University of Massachusetts-Lowell	Public	9034	47	64	600	630	28	15215
Wellesley College	Private	2344	84	29	760	750	33	18998
Wentworth Institute of Technology	Private	3634	50	58	580	630	27	31829
Western New England University	Private	2498	52	82	570	610	26	29070
Westfield State University	Public	4999	57	75	540	550	22	13509
Wheaton College	Private	1645	71	67				32415
Wheelock College	Private	809	46	73	550	540	25	29617
Williams College	Private	2064	90	17	780	780	34	19503
Worcester Polytechnic Institute	Private	3959	70	52				37192
Worcester State University	Public	4115	45	61	550	560	24	13335