University of Maine

Public · Moderately Selective · ME

Photo: Jalnet2 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationME · Northeast

SettingSuburban

Undergrads8,496

Student:faculty15:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate41.3%

6-yr grad rate54.9%

Drop-out rate16.6%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$13k

Out-of-state tuition$37k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity17.5%

Gender diversity47.9%

International1.9%

Identity—

Overview

The University of Maine is the state's flagship land-grant institution, set in Orono along the Penobscot River. It has a classic, close-knit New England feel and has built particular strength in fields tied directly to the state's natural resources and industries, from forestry to marine science to engineering. As Maine's only land-grant and sea-grant university, it carries a research and outreach mission that reaches well beyond its own campus into the state's forests, farms, and fishing communities.

Academics

Engineering, forestry, and marine sciences are the university's signature strengths, with researchers doing recognized work in offshore wind energy and large-scale 3D printing through the Advanced Structures and Composites Center, which has built some of the world's largest polymer 3D printers and used them to print full-scale boats and demonstration homes. The land-grant mission shows up clearly in applied research tied to Maine's natural resources, agriculture, and coastal economy, and the Darling Marine Center gives marine science students direct coastal field-station access.

Campus & student life

Orono offers a quiet, close-knit college-town setting, and Black Bear hockey, with a history of national championships, is the clear marquee sport and social anchor for much of the winter. The surrounding Maine woods and waterways give outdoors-oriented students easy access to hiking, fishing, and paddling, and the Memorial Union serves as a central gathering spot on a campus built around a genuinely tight-knit community rather than a sprawling anonymous one.

Getting in

As the state flagship, UMaine's admissions process is moderately selective and accessible to a broad range of applicants, with particular interest in students pursuing engineering, forestry, or marine sciences given those programs' strength and the direct research opportunities attached to them. The application process is fairly straightforward, without heavy emphasis on essays or interviews beyond the standard application.

After graduation

Engineering and forestry graduates are well placed in Maine's and New England's natural-resource, manufacturing, and renewable-energy industries, and the university's offshore wind and composites research has created real pipelines into that emerging sector specifically. The alumni network is strongest within Maine itself, reflecting the university's land-grant mission of serving the state directly.

Worth knowing

UMaine's offshore wind and 3D-printing research initiatives are genuinely cutting-edge for a university of its size and location, giving engineering-minded students access to research well beyond what the school's size might suggest. Winters are long and genuinely cold, which shapes campus culture and student life more than at most flagships, something students who thrive on outdoor winter recreation tend to embrace rather than merely tolerate.

umaine.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate96.6%

Enrolled mid-50%1270

Test policynot used

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying