Marian University

Private · Moderately Selective · IN

Photo: Nyttend (Public domain)

School data & stats

TypePrivate

LocationIN · Midwest

SettingUrban

Undergrads2,266

Student:faculty13:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate48.8%

6-yr grad rate67.2%

Drop-out rate24.1%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$41k

Out-of-state tuition$41k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity43.8%

Gender diversity57.2%

International2.6%

IdentityRoman Catholic

Overview

Marian University is a Catholic university in Indianapolis rooted in the Franciscan tradition, built on a campus that still carries the formal gardens and mansion architecture of the historic estates it occupies. It has expanded quickly from a small liberal arts college into a multi-program university, most notably by adding a college of osteopathic medicine, a rare move for an institution its size that reshaped its academic profile.

Academics

Nursing and education are Marian's most established programs, both with strong regional placement reputations, and engineering has been added as part of the university's broader growth. The osteopathic medical school operates somewhat separately from the undergraduate college but reinforces a health-sciences identity that now runs through much of the institution.

Campus & student life

The campus's formal gardens and preserved estate buildings give it a distinctive, manicured feel unusual for an urban Indianapolis school. Marian's collegiate cycling team is a genuine point of national pride, one of the sport's dominant programs for years, drawing recruited athletes and giving campus an unusually visible cycling culture for a school this size.

Getting in

Marian's process is holistic and not heavily formula-driven, with particular attention paid to nursing and pre-health applicants given the competitiveness of those tracks. Catholic mission and service involvement are part of the picture but not a hard requirement, and the student body includes many non-Catholic students.

After graduation

Nursing and education graduates place reliably into Indianapolis-area hospitals and school districts, and the osteopathic medical school has begun creating a pipeline for undergraduates interested in staying at Marian through medical training.

Worth knowing

The cycling program is a real recruiting draw, not a footnote; it has produced national champions. The rapid addition of medical and engineering programs also means the university's identity is still evolving from what it was a decade ago.

marian.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate95.5%

Enrolled mid-50%—

Test policynot used

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying