University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez

Public · Moderately Selective · PR

Photo: Unknown author (Public Domain)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationPR

SettingUrban

Undergrads9,539

Student:faculty19:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate6.6%

6-yr grad rate49.1%

Drop-out rate13%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$5k

Out-of-state tuition$5k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity100%

Gender diversity43.7%

International0.1%

Identity—

Overview

Known across the island as 'el Colegio,' UPR Mayaguez is Puerto Rico's premier engineering and agricultural institution, a land-grant campus on the island's west coast often referred to by the acronym RUM. It carries an outsized reputation for producing rigorously trained engineers relative to its size, and it functions as something like Puerto Rico's version of a technical flagship, distinct from Rio Piedras's broader liberal-arts and professional mission.

Academics

Engineering across civil, mechanical, electrical, industrial, and chemical disciplines is the campus's defining strength, with graduates heavily recruited by mainland U.S. companies and federal agencies including NASA, which has long maintained research ties to the campus. Agricultural sciences, drawing on the campus's land-grant mission and its agricultural experiment station, are also strong, and the sciences and mathematics departments feed many students into engineering and pre-professional tracks. Instruction blends Spanish and English, particularly in technical coursework and textbooks, which helps prepare graduates for mainland job markets and graduate programs.

Campus & student life

Mayaguez's west-coast setting puts beaches and surf towns within easy reach, giving the campus a laid-back geographic backdrop despite its academically intense engineering culture. Student life reflects a tight-knit, island-wide sense of pride in the school's reputation, with many students arriving already aware of the campus's standing as the island's top engineering destination. The workload in engineering programs is demanding, and study culture is a bigger part of daily life than a traditional social or athletic scene.

Getting in

Admission to engineering programs is competitive within the island's academic-index system, drawing some of Puerto Rico's strongest STEM-track students, with the engineering college in particular functioning as a selective program within the university rather than a general admission bar. Students who apply intending to study engineering should expect a stronger academic bar than the university's overall profile suggests.

After graduation

A well-established pipeline sends graduates to mainland engineering employers and federal agencies, and alumni networks among mainland-based Puerto Rican engineers are a notable source of mentorship and recruiting for current students. Many graduates also pursue graduate engineering programs on the mainland, and the campus's reputation among industry recruiters gives its degree real currency well beyond the island.

Worth knowing

UPR Mayaguez's identity is built almost entirely around engineering and agriculture, so students looking for a broad liberal-arts experience are better served by Rio Piedras; those set on engineering, by contrast, will find few options on the island with a comparable reputation or as strong a mainland recruiting pipeline.

uprm.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate56.5%

Enrolled mid-50%—

Test policynot used

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

Applying