Key Facts

About St. Mary's / Key Facts

Institution

  • Public liberal arts mission, co-educational, non-religious.
  • Accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.
  • Official designation as a Public Honors College, one of only two nationally.
  • One of the top 6 public liberal arts colleges in the nation (U.S. News & World Report).
  • Member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC).

Location

  • 361-acre waterfront campus adjacent to historic St. Mary’s City, MD, founded in 1634. (Fourth oldest permanent English settlement in North America).
  • 70 miles southeast of Washington, D.C. and 95 miles south of Baltimore near the confluence of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.

Enrollment

  • Total Enrollment, Fall 2018: 1,602 students.
  • 93% of St. Mary’s students reside in Maryland. The remaining 7% hail from 26 states and 8 nations.

Academics

    • 38 academic programs: 25 majors, 31 minors.
    • Degrees offered: Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.).
    • Popular degree programs: Psychology, Biology, English, Environmental Studies, Political Science, Economics.
    • 72% of St. Mary’s students major or minor in a second academic discipline.
    • 135 full-time faculty.
    • 10:1 student-to-faculty ratio, one of the lowest in the nation.
    • 29 study abroad programs. 45% of the graduating class of 2018 studied abroad.
    • 63% four-year graduation rate, highest of any public institution in Maryland.
    • Member of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society.
    • The 2nd Highest percentage of student-athletes on Capital Athletic Conference’s All-Academic team for 4 years in a row.
    • Faculty have been awarded 43 Fulbrights in the past 39 years. Alumni have been awarded 19 in the past 24 years.
    • Among the highest percentage of any Maryland school, 30% of all students graduate with a STEM major.

  • The biochemistry program received accreditation from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology through 2023. SMCM is the first public institution in Maryland to receive this accreditation.

Campus Life

  • 81% of St. Mary’s students live on campus.
  • 8 housing areas (coed and single sex halls, suites, apartments, and townhouses).
  • 19 varsity athletic teams (NCAA Division III, ICSA, Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference)
  • More than 100 student clubs and organizations.
  • An All Star Award Winner in Campus Labs’ Annual Awards Program, Highlighting Innovative Approach in Using Technology to Address Campus Needs.
  • Recognized by EPA as Top Green Power User in the Capital Athletic Conference in 2018-19

Historical Dates

1840: The school was founded when the Maryland legislature authorized a lottery to finance the construction of a “female seminary” (girls’ boarding school) in St. Mary’s City.
1846: The school was incorporated by an act of legislation.
1927: St. Mary’s became Maryland’s first junior college.
1964: The school changed its name to St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
1967: St. Mary’s became a four-year baccalaureate college.
1992: The state General Assembly designated the school Maryland’s public honors college; the state also granted the College an institutional status designed to assure stable public funding.

School Colors

Navy Blue and White

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