,·Private (nonprofit)·Est. 1912
“Lasallian Catholic university with residential undergraduate campus in Winona and graduate programs in the Twin Cities.”
Saint Mary's University of Minnesota (SMUMN) is a private Catholic Lasallian university founded in 1912 and headquartered in Winona, a riverside small city in southeastern Minnesota. The residential undergraduate college sits on a 400-acre bluff-top campus along the Mississippi River, while graduate and professional programs operate at a dedicated Minneapolis campus and a Rochester site. Founded by the Christian Brothers in the tradition of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, Saint Mary's offers a values-driven, service-oriented education anchored in the Lasallian principles of faith, service, and community. The Winona undergraduate college is deliberately small — about 1,100 students with a 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio — and offers more than 40 majors. The portfolio leans toward pre-professional programs with strong regional reputations: a four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing, an accelerated Physician Assistant pathway that partners with Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences in Rochester, and well-regarded programs in business, data analytics, education, biology, and psychology. The School of Business and Technology spans undergraduate, master's, and doctoral offerings, while the Schools of Graduate and Professional Programs (largely Twin Cities-based) drive overall university enrollment to roughly 5,000 students. Life on the Winona campus centers on outdoor recreation (Mississippi River bluffs, canoeing, hiking, skiing at nearby Coffee Mill), NCAA Division III Cardinals athletics in the MIAC, and a residential culture where almost all undergraduates live on campus for their entire four years. International students are a visible, actively recruited community — SMUMN awards automatic merit scholarships of up to 65% of tuition to admitted international freshmen, and the International Center provides hands-on F-1 support including airport pickup from Minneapolis-St. Paul. For students who want a personal, values-driven education with direct access to the Mayo Clinic ecosystem, Saint Mary's is a serious option.
Visa, OPT, H-1B alumni outcomes, and acceptance rates by country — sourced from FOIA, USCIS H-1B Hub, and DHS SEVIS.
Test Optional — You can submit scores if they help your case, but they're not required.
Official SourceRolling
Applications accepted year-round. Enrollment deposit due May 1 for fall.
Accelerated PA Program
Firm deadline for the 3+2 PA pathway with Mayo Clinic.
FAFSA Priority
Priority filing date for financial aid.
The deep admissions playbook beyond the headline acceptance rate — round-by-round breakdowns, nationality data, requirements, and contact paths.
Tuition & Fees (All Students)
$45,080
/yr
Beyond the sticker price — every named scholarship, the financial aid policy, need-aware notes, and a personalized net-cost estimate.
How life on campus actually feels — clubs, sports, traditions, housing realities, and how the school integrates with its city.
5 years
A signature 3+2 pathway that pairs three undergraduate years at Winona with a Master of Physician Assistant Studies through Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences in Rochester.
4 years
A four-year traditional BSN with clinical rotations through Winona-area and Rochester health systems and strong NCLEX pass rates.
4 years
A data-analytics-forward business major with SQL, Tableau, Python, and capstone consulting projects.
Where alumni go after graduation — top industries, grad-school continuation, and the qualitative outcomes story.
Sticker price (annual, out-of-state): $45,080
Net-cost estimate is US-resident-only — international applicants are typically excluded from need-based aid at most schools and should treat the sticker price as the planning baseline.
