Central Michigan University

Public · Moderately Selective · MI

Photo: rossograph (CC BY-SA 4.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationMI · Midwest

SettingRural

Undergrads10,035

Student:faculty16:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate39.5%

6-yr grad rate58.7%

Drop-out rate24.6%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$15k

Out-of-state tuition$15k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity23.9%

Gender diversity61.6%

International2.6%

Identity—

Overview

Central Michigan University sits in Mount Pleasant, in the middle of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, and maintains a strong residential-campus tradition that gives it a more traditional college-town feel than many regional publics. It has grown from a normal school into a comprehensive university while keeping a close-knit, spirited campus culture centered on Chippewa athletics and a genuinely walkable, self-contained campus.

Academics

Teacher education and broadcasting and journalism are long-standing signature strengths — CMU's broadcasting program has a real reputation for placing graduates in regional and national media — joined by business and health professions, including its own medical college focused specifically on preparing physicians for rural and underserved Michigan communities. Actuarial science is a lesser-known but genuinely strong program that draws students from well beyond Michigan.

Campus & student life

Mount Pleasant is a classic small college town built around the university, with residence-hall life and campus traditions central to the student experience rather than a commuter alternative. Chippewa football and a lively Greek and residence-hall community give campus a spirited, tight-knit feel, and the flat, walkable campus makes it easy to move between the academic core and student housing. Winters here are genuinely cold and snowy, a real feature of the year-round social calendar rather than an inconvenience to plan around.

Getting in

Admission is grades-and-coursework driven rather than intensely competitive, drawing primarily from Michigan and the Midwest, with a straightforward application that emphasizes solid high school preparation over an elaborate holistic review. The university has also built a meaningful transfer pipeline from Michigan's community colleges.

After graduation

Broadcasting and journalism graduates have a well-documented pipeline into Michigan and national media markets, education graduates place widely across Michigan schools, and the medical college's graduates disproportionately enter primary care in rural and underserved parts of the state, in keeping with its founding mission.

Worth knowing

The medical college's explicit rural and underserved-community focus is unusual among regional public universities and gives pre-health students a mission-driven pathway, and the broadcasting and journalism program's alumni network in Michigan and national media is a genuine, underrated asset for students in that field.

cmich.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate89.8%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 960–1200 · ACT 21–27

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying