Is St. Thomas University a Good University?

St. Thomas University, located in Minnesota, is a private college established in 1961. As a Catholic institute, it fosters leaders of all beliefs looking to create a positive influence on the world. It has a campus size of roughly 140 acres and has an academic calendar based on semesters. The university has a military-friendly campus and ranks 80th among the best colleges in the South region. Lets find out is St. Thomas university a good university?

St. Thomas University acquired the recognition of the best master’s programs in its Special Education Disciplines. The university has been awarded an excellence award for being the best Actuarial Science Center, one of only 32 organizations worldwide to own this title. As per the Princeton Review, the institute ranks among the top 387 universities. Its Catholic programs are the finest, largest, and oldest of their kind. The university’s student-run newspaper, TommieMedia, is a nationwide leader in digital journalism that won Pacemaker Award. 

Ranking & Recognitions

St. Thomas University has maintained the highest ranking among the top colleges in America for years. Following is a brief description of University’s ranking and recognitions based on various reports.  

  1. US News & World Report

As per this report, St. Thomas is among the top 136 universities nationwide. It ranks 67th among the best value schools. The institute lies 82nd in the best veteran colleges nationally. Meanwhile, its undergrad engineering programs rank 39th based on this report.  

  1. Niche.com & Princeton Review 

Niche.com remarked that the institute is the 11th best Catholic college in the United States of America. It ranks 31st among the top college campuses in the USA. Princeton Review marked the school as 23rd among the undergrad entrepreneurship programs. Likewise, Sierra Magazine reports it to be the 81st among the most sustainable colleges in America. 

St. Thomas University’s Salient Features

St. Thomas is renowned for being the most sustainable campus, highly rated, military-friendly, and a great changemaker. The university offers its students over 100 majors to choose the subjects. Meanwhile, it provides unlimited opportunities for career mentorships, apprenticeships, and internships. Given are some of the salient features of the institute. 

  1. Sustainability Plan

Sustainability is the essence of the institute’s vision of common welfare. St. Thomas University incorporates sustainability with student life, academic programs, facilities, and campus operations while advancing toward its target of carbon neutrality. Princeton Review has recognized its achievements by awarding the institute a Gold STARS rating for the advancement of sustainability. Additionally, St. Thomas acquired the top Cool Schools ranking from Sierra magazine. 

  1. Changemaker Campus 

St. Thomas University is the only educational organization in Minnesota nominated as a Changemaker campus. The university encourages its schools, students, and faculty to create a positive impact to kindle promising social change in society. The Common Good Center at St. Thomas stimulates the connections between the university and the community to foster societal innovation. The institute assists in growing affinities and building networks to solve the most challenging problems of today’s world.

  1. Military Friendly Environment 

St. Thomas University salutes military families and veterans and is among the top military-friendly institutes across the Upper Midwest. The university supplies the required resources that help veterans succeed academically. Meanwhile, such students have provided the career assistance needed to prosper after graduation. Apart from this, the university enables its students to maximize their educational benefits. St. Thomas Veterans’ Association (STVA) is a military-veteran society that facilitates its members to connect through community services, meetings, and events. 

  1. First-Gen Forward Recognition

St. Thomas University is selected to become a part of the First-Generation Forward Program for 2021-2022. The recognition admires the institute’s higher education that advances outcomes and enhances the experiences of its first-gen students. It will be one of the 200 institutes that hold this designation. As an associate of this cohort, the university will obtain additional community-building expertise, professional growth, and advanced research-based resources. This designation aligns with the institute’s objective to enlarge its network and support a diverse student culture. The university recognizes the cultural diversity, strength, and uniqueness that its first-gen student body brings to STU.  

Conclusion

St. Thomas University is the largest private institute with above 10,000 students and a vast alumni network of 115,000. The university has eight colleges and schools that offer above 150 undergraduate programs and 55 graduate programs. It had founded upon Catholic Intellectual Practice, an old convention of uniting different religious faiths to analyze the world. The campus educates its scholars to be morally responsible and pious leaders who can work wisely, act skillfully, and think critically. The institute is devoted to its convictions of academic excellence, the search for truth, faith and reasoning, diversity, elegance, gratitude, and personal awareness.

Frequently Asked Questions  

1). Which type of financial aid does St. Thomas University offer?

STU offers a wide range of financial assistance that can support the expenses of students. These include State Grants, Federal Grants, Federal Direct Loans, Private Alternative Loans, etc. It also offers general, institutional, academic, and state scholarships.

2). What is the application procedure for St. Thomas University?

Firstly, the student must submit an online application and email the high school mark sheet along with SAT scores report. The student should have at least 2.5 GPA to be considered further. For transfer students, the GPA requirement is above 2.0. The admission centers are open for visitors on working days from 9 am till 5 pm.

3).  Is SAT/ACT required while applying for St. Thomas University?

Given the Covid-19 pandemic, St. Thomas has waived the ACT/SAT requirement for students of Fall 2020. If the students have test scores reports, they may submit them. But applications without test scores will also be considered. The absence of test reports will have no negative impact on final admission selection.  

4). Which learning methods does St. Thomas University offer?

Most of the programs that offered are On-Campus. However, it also offers few programs in online or hybrid mode given the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.