School data & stats
Outcomes
Cost
Community
Overview
Missouri Southern State University, in Joplin, is a regional public university serving southwest Missouri and the surrounding four-state corner where Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas meet. It is built around accessible, career-focused programming rather than research or a highly selective admissions model.
Academics
Health sciences, business, education, and criminal justice are the most established programs, each aimed at direct regional workforce needs. The university has also woven an international-studies theme into general campus programming, giving it a somewhat more globally oriented flavor than its regional-public peers.
Worth knowing
The international-studies emphasis threaded through campus life is a distinctive touch for a school of this size and region, worth noting for students who want some global perspective without leaving a smaller Midwestern public university.
Admissions
Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)
Applying
mssu.edu ↗High school coursework
RequiredNo specific high school course-unit distribution published; admission is index-based — meet one of: High School GPA 2.25 or higher, ACT composite 21 or higher, or graduate in the top 50% of class
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