Truman State University

Public · Moderately Selective · MO

Photo: DavidOaks (Public domain)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationMO · Midwest

SettingRural

Undergrads2,513

Student:faculty12:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate57.6%

6-yr grad rate68.5%

Drop-out rate15.3%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$10k

Out-of-state tuition$19k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity22.4%

Gender diversity60%

International9.6%

Identity—

Overview

Truman State University, in the small town of Kirksville, Missouri, is Missouri's official public liberal arts and sciences university — a designation the state created specifically to concentrate its most academically rigorous public undergraduate education in one place. It draws high-achieving students from across Missouri and beyond who want a serious academic environment at a public-university price.

Academics

The curriculum is built around a genuine liberal-arts core, including an interdisciplinary studies component and a capstone requirement, rather than the looser distribution requirements common at many state universities. Class sizes are small for a public institution, and preparation for graduate and professional school — medicine, law, doctoral programs — is a central, explicit institutional goal rather than an incidental outcome. Faculty prioritize undergraduate teaching and research mentorship, aided by the absence of a large graduate school competing for attention.

Campus & student life

Kirksville is a small, rural town, and campus life is correspondingly self-contained and close-knit, without a large surrounding city to draw students off campus. Academic culture is intense and taken seriously by most students, a defining feature of the social atmosphere as much as any tradition or event.

Getting in

Truman's admissions process is more academically selective than most public universities in the state, weighing rigor of high school coursework and standardized preparation more heavily than many regional publics, though it remains considerably less expensive than a comparably selective private college.

After graduation

Truman graduates have a strong, well-documented record of admission to graduate and professional programs, including medical and law school, and the university markets this outcome explicitly as central to its identity. Its relatively small, close alumni network is concentrated in Missouri and the broader Midwest.

Worth knowing

Truman functions as Missouri's answer to a public honors college or liberal-arts flagship, and it is a genuinely different environment — smaller, more academically intense — from the state's larger public research universities; students who want a big-university social scene or major athletics culture should look elsewhere.

truman.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate83.8%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 1170–1370 · ACT 25–31

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying