Getting To Know: Seton Hall University (NJ)-Again

Published by Stuart Nachbar at June 3, 2026

Located only 14 miles from New York City. Seton Hall has a strong following in my home state.

The university has nearly 50,000 alumni in the New York metro area registered in LinkedIn.com. Nearly a fifth of our state legislature are Seton Hall graduates, a very high percentage for a mid-sized private university.

A member of the Big East Conference, Seton Hall’s sports rivals include Georgetown, Marquette and Villanova, among others. Given the Big East’s high profile in men’s basketball, thanks to UConn, Seton Hall’s membership in this conference helps in recruiting undergrads from outside of the Garden State. Yet Seton Hall also maintains a basketball rivalry with Rutgers. Seton Hall is a serious basketball school. Men’s head coach, Shaheen Holloway, is an alumnus who led the Pirates into the Sweet 16 in 2000. In 2024 he led them to the NIT Championship. Since 2000 the Pirates have made eight appearances in the NCAA Tournament and six in the NIT.

Seton Hall’s rivalry with Rutgers extends to admissions.

Seton Hall attracts approximately 70 percent of its undergraduate student body from New Jersey. As a result Rutgers’ main campus in New Brunswick is the most popular cross app. Seton Hall awards merit-based scholarships that will typically range between $15,000 and $30,000/year. There are other scholarships as well that require a separate application. Those who visit Seton hall and really like what they see should apply early to receive as much consideration for scholarships as possible.

The scholarships will likely help keep debts down, especially for those who are committed to an accelerated path. In 2024 the average student indebtedness among those who borrowed was nearly $45,000. However, that included students who took out private loans as well as those who took on paths to advanced degrees other than the Bachelors/MD where the MD is granted by Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, not Seton Hall.

While it’s unlikely that Seton Hall will undercut Rutgers, the money can help sway students who want a program available at Seton Hall that’s tough to find or gain admission at the flagship state university.

Some examples of programs that one can find at Seton Hall but not at Rutgers include:

A school of diplomacy and international relations. In fact, Seton has the only undergraduate school of this type in the New York metro area. There are also opportunities to study at the United Nations, Washington DC and abroad.
Accelerated pathways into several health professions. Plus, with the exception of the Physician’s Assistant pathway and the Bachelor’s/MD. students can enter these programs, provided they complete prerequisite courses, after their freshman year and still graduate on time. In addition, most of these programs allow undergraduates to take graduate courses at the undergraduate tuition rate for the fourth year in the program.
A 4+3 Bachelors/MD program in partnership with Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine. The accelerated path at Rutgers is a 3+4. This program has some distinct advantages . It allows premed students to pursue virtually any major at Seton Hall, The program also has one less year of medical school, a cost and time savings. However, this is not an assured admissions program. Prospective medical school students must score in the upper fifth on the MCAT and maintain a 3.7 GPA in the last two years of the undergraduate degree to be admitted to the medical school.
A Center for Sports Media that offers education in sports communications as well as sports business.
A much larger selection of options for teacher preparation.
Two 3+3 pathways towards a law degree, one through the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, the other through the College of Arts & Sciences.

Most introductory classes will be smaller than they are likely to be at Rutgers, especially during the first two years of undergraduate education. The university’s most recent Fact Book showed me that Business and Nursing are the growing schools within the university. The most popular majors are Nursing, Biology, Finance, Marketing, Psychology, Sport Management and Diplomacy & International Relations.

Overall, Seton Hall is not exceptionally selective.

While there will be stiff competition for several programs, especially the Bachelors/MD, the accelerated paths to other health professions and the 3+3 paths to the law degree, Seton Hall has recently accepted over 70% of all applicants. The average high school GPA is approximately a 3.7.

Admissions are test optional. However, those who score 1200 or better on the SAT or 25 or better on the ACT are encouraged to submit scores to be considered for scholarships. Interestingly, when I looked up Seton Hall on US News College Compass, I found that only 25% of the Class of 2028 submitted SAT scores while only 5% submitted ACT scores during the 2024-25 cycle. The average SAT among those who submitted was just over 1300. This is one school where it pays to apply early and visit or keep in touch often. Demonstrated interest is considered to be Very Important.

Seton Hall retains between 85 and 90 percent of a freshman class. Retention in the more selective programs is likely to be higher. The most recent four-year graduation rate that I could find was 64 percent. But I also don’t know the percentage that commits to an accelerated path towards an advanced degree, and there are more here than there are at most other mid-sized private universities.

The campus grew on me.

Seton Hall packs a lot onto the 58 acres of its main campus. I liked that there is no dominant architectural style much like I saw at Villanova. This is a Catholic university, but I saw that aside from the chapel, religious symbols were quite subdued. Seton Hall renovated its dining hall and built a new fitness center and student center since my previous visit. Interiors were clean, current and quite functional. When it comes to public spaces it looked like people really cared. I assembled pictures to make a Pinterest page. It’s relatively easy to navigate this school though cars will have more of a presence here than they will at schools in cities. It’s easy for a freshman to do without one here. But I felt that students would need access to one if they moved off. The campus shows well on The College Tour, too.

Remarkable to me, Seton Hall has managed to update its facilities within a fairly small footprint for a mid sized university. It helps that the university has other campuses for the School of Health & Medical Sciences and the School of Nursing (photo below) in Nutley and the law school in Newark. However, the men’s basketball team plays its major opponents, including Rutgers and Big East rivals, at the Prudential Center in downtown Newark. These rivalries might be too strong to remain on campus.

eton Hall really tries to sell location.

The idea for the South Orange campus is that you’re close to New York City, but not smothered by it. Those who grew up within commuting distance of a major city might find this appealing. However, South Orange, while a nice community, is small compared to college towns at major research universities.

The vast majority of a freshman class (80%) lives on campus, but overall half of the undergraduate student body does not. Greek life is relatively popular at Seton Hall, attracting an about a fifth of the student body. However, local ordinances do not permit fraternities or sororities to have houses as they might at Rutgers, among other schools.

The university and community are served by NJ TRANSIT trains to Newark and New York, making it easy for students to work in internships while pursuing their degrees. Seton Hall does a better job of leveraging its alumni base than most schools of similar size. Networking is easy, especially for high achievers. Last year, the career development center posted over 17,000 internships, impressive considering that only half of a student body had declared a major while students in education and the health professions had their own placements within their curricula .

Conclusions

Seton Hall is trying to build a more national presence through academic programs and scholarships. I learned about several ways that the university is trying to make its offerings stand out in business, education, health professions, international relations and sports media. Considerable thought appears to be placed into how to make a graduate employable quickly. From the standpoint of aspiration, While Seton Hall does not turn away prospective students like Boston College, Georgetown or Villanova, the outcomes can be quite similar while the costs respectably lower.

Report Card for Seton Hall University