Morgan State University

What it is like

Morgan State sits in northeast Baltimore, on a 143-acre campus near Lake Montebello. It is a big-city public university, and it feels like one. About 9,019 undergraduates study here, roughly 76% of them Black and about 39% men.

It is run by the state of Maryland and classified as a doctoral university with high research activity. About 1,712 graduate students study here too. For a family that wants an HBCU with graduate programs and professional schools on the same campus, that combination is the draw. For a family that wants a small, quiet college town, it is not the place.

A few numbers from federal data help set expectations. Morgan admits about 82% of the students who apply, and about 73% of first-year students come back for their second year. About 57% of students receive Pell Grants, which tells you a large share of the campus is paying for college with need-based help.

History

Morgan began in 1867 as the Centenary Biblical Institute, started by the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church to train men for the ministry. The school later widened its purpose to educate both men and women as teachers. In 1890 it took the name Morgan College, honoring the Reverend Lyttleton F. Morgan, the first chairman of its trustees, who gave land to the school. The college awarded its first bachelor's degree in 1895 to George F. McMechen, who went on to earn a law degree at Yale and became a Baltimore civic leader and a major supporter of the school.

The move to the present campus came through a gift. In 1915 Andrew Carnegie offered a conditional grant of $50,000 for a main academic building, on the terms that the college find new land, clear its debts and put up a building carrying his name. Morgan moved to its northeast Baltimore site in 1917, and Carnegie Hall, put up two years later in 1919, is still the oldest original building standing on campus.

The biggest change of ownership came in 1939, when the state of Maryland bought the college and renamed it Morgan State College. It did so after a state study found that Maryland needed to offer more opportunities to its Black citizens. In 1975 the legislature made Morgan a university, allowed it to offer doctorates and gave it its own governing board again. Then in 1988 a statewide reorganization placed Morgan inside the University of Maryland System, while it kept its independent board. That law also named it Maryland's Public Urban University.

The state's records show that the School of Graduate Studies began offering advanced degrees in education in 1964, well before the doctoral authority arrived.

In 2016 the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the campus a National Treasure, on May 3 of that year. Only Howard University had received the designation at an HBCU before it, and the Trust set aside a $110,000 grant to draw up a preservation plan. The campus buildings include work by the Black architects Leon Bridges, Albert Cassell, Louis Fry and Hilyard Robinson.

Academics

Morgan has twelve schools and colleges, and the names tell you what it is known for: an engineering school named for Clarence M. Mitchell, a business school named for alumnus Earl G. Graves, a School of Architecture and Planning, a School of Global Journalism and Communication, a School of Social Work, a School of Education and Urban Studies, a School of Community Health and Policy and an honors college. Wikipedia reports that Morgan has educated more than 100 Fulbright scholars and ranks first among HBCUs in Fulbright-related grants.

The federal degree data shows where students actually finish. In the most recent counts, the largest bachelor's group is liberal arts and sciences with 98 degrees, followed by business administration with 85, journalism with 66, psychology with 61 and biology with 56. Social work is strong at two levels: 53 bachelor's degrees and 83 master's degrees. Engineering and computing are also on the list, with 46 degrees in electrical and communications engineering, 40 in computer and information sciences and 36 in civil engineering. Architecture adds 28 bachelor's degrees, and public health and sociology are each at 28 as well. In all, the federal data counts 114 programs.

If your student is drawn to journalism, architecture, social work or engineering, Morgan has a named school for each. The honors college has its own scholarships, covered in the paying section below.

Morgan is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

Campus life

The university lists six residence halls that take first-year students: Baldwin Hall, Blount Towers, Cummings House, Legacy Hall, Rawlings Hall and Thurgood Marshall Hall. Students who live on campus must carry at least the Silver Anytime dining plan. Check the housing page for the current application steps and deadlines before you count on a room.

Greek life is part of the picture. Wikipedia counts nine National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations on campus, which is the full set of what people call the Divine Nine. One of them was born here: Iota Phi Theta was founded on September 19, 1963, at Morgan State College by twelve founders who were all non-traditional students.

Athletics are Division I. The teams are the Bears, and the women's teams are the Lady Bears. Morgan competes in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and football plays at Hughes Stadium. Four Pro Football Hall of Famers came out of the program: Rosey Brown, Leroy Kelly, Willie Lanier and Len Ford. The crosstown rival is Towson, and the athletics department calls that game the Battle for Greater Baltimore.

Music students and band members have five ensembles to choose from: marching band, symphonic band, jazz band, pep band and jazz combo. Music auditions are generally in spring and summer, marching auditions are in August, and the band invites prospective members to its spring concert.

Alumni include Earl G. Graves Sr., who founded Black Enterprise magazine, the scientist and inventor Valerie Thomas, and Kweisi Mfume, who earned his bachelor's degree at Morgan in 1976 and later chaired its board of regents.

Traditions

Start with the band. The Magnificent Marching Machine has about 150 student members and has played at NFL games, presidential inaugurations and the World Series. It led the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2019, and it was the first HBCU band to march in the D-Day memorial parade in France. It was also picked for its first Rose Parade, the 137th, on New Year's Day 2026 in Pasadena, California. The band also has a cameo in the film Head of State.

Homecoming is the other big week. In October 2025 Morgan held its 158th homecoming, which included a coronation ceremony, a parade through Baltimore streets and a football game at Hughes Stadium. The university president told the Baltimore Beat that homecoming is a family affair and a time for alumni to come back to campus. In 2026 the football homecoming game is scheduled for October 10 against Robert Morris.

Getting in

Morgan reviews applications as a whole picture rather than a single number. The admissions office looks at your grades, both weighted and unweighted, along with how hard your courses were, whether your grades are trending upward, class rank if your school reports it, leadership, personal background, Maryland residency and whether a family member attended Morgan.

For coursework, the school expects four years of English, four years of math, three years of science, three years of history or social science, and two years of a foreign language or advanced technology education. The math requirement includes algebra, geometry, algebra II and a senior-year course. The science requirement asks for two different areas with at least one lab.

Standardized tests are optional. If you have SAT or ACT scores you can send them, but you do not have to. Federal data shows the middle half of enrolled students scored roughly 400 to 520 on SAT reading and 440 to 550 on SAT math, and the ACT midpoint was 18.

Start at the freshman applicant page on morgan.edu, where the requirements are posted and where you can reach the Office of Undergraduate Admission and Recruitment. Check the admissions page for current deadlines, because they change from year to year and we do not want to print one that may be out of date.

Paying for it

Start with the net price calculator on Morgan's financial aid pages, which will show what your family might pay after grants. Then look at what the school itself offers, and at least one award is open only to families from out of state.

The Troy E. Quinn Merit Award is worth up to $6,000 a year for first-time freshmen who attend full time and enroll in the fall. To keep it you need a 2.0 grade point average and at least 12 credits a semester, and it can run up to eight consecutive semesters. The J.C. Bozeman Need Grant is worth up to $2,000 a year and is only for students who are not Maryland residents, which matters for West Coast families. It requires filing the FAFSA every year. For both, the financial aid page names December 1 as the date for best consideration, so check the page for the current year before you plan around it.

The largest award on the pages we read comes from the honors college. The Martin D. Jenkins Scholarship can cover tuition, fees, on-campus room and board and up to $500 a semester for books, for up to four years, as long as the student keeps a 3.6 grade point average and meets the honors college requirements. The Honors Associate Scholarship is up to $2,000 a year for up to four years, with a 3.4 grade point average to keep it. The honors page says plainly that being in the honors college does not guarantee a scholarship.

The financial aid office also lists Army ROTC scholarships, athletic grants and outside awards from groups such as the NAACP. The honors page says amounts depend on available funding, so ask the financial aid office how your student's specific aid package would look before you decide.

Visiting

Morgan offers four ways to see the campus: a guided tour, a virtual tour, a self-guided tour using its interactive map, and special events such as Explore Morgan Day. A guided tour is led by student ambassadors and involves about 90 minutes of walking, so wear comfortable shoes. The tour visits the library, the Graves business school building and the student center, and begins with a welcome presentation on the university's history and mission. You book through the admissions office, and if you are more than 10 minutes late the reservation is cancelled and you switch to a self-guided tour. Tours can be cancelled for bad weather, and if the heat index is above 90 degrees the walking tour is dropped and you get the information session only.

Explore Morgan Day is the open house. The 2026 date is October 2, 2026, with a kickoff at Hill Field House, guided tours, faculty and student meetings, program exploration and presentations on admissions, financial aid and scholarships. Registration for that day has already closed, and the school says spring 2027 information is coming, so check the open house page for the next date.

While you are in Baltimore, walk past Holmes Hall, with its Frederick Douglass statue out front, and Carnegie Hall to see the campus the National Trust honored in 2016, and consider timing a fall visit around a home football game. If you want a Bears game, the 2026 homecoming game is October 10.

If your family is making a longer trip, Morgan is one of several HBCUs within a short drive. Coppin State University is about 5 miles away, Bowie State University is about 24 miles away and Howard University is about 37 miles away, so a single trip east can cover more than one campus.

Who it fits

Morgan tends to fit a student who wants a large, city-based HBCU with professional schools and graduate programs. If your student is interested in engineering, architecture, journalism, social work, business or public health, Morgan has a school or program built around it. A student who wants marching band, Greek life or a homecoming culture that runs on a big Baltimore stage will find those here.

Getting in is within reach for many students: Morgan admits about 82% of applicants and test scores are optional. Families from outside Maryland should look at the Bozeman grant in the paying section.

There are reasons to look closely. The federal graduation rate is about 41%, so ask the admissions and advising staff what support exists for staying on track and finishing. The campus is in a big city, so a student who wants a self-contained residential college should ask about housing before applying. And a student who wants a small, intimate campus with a few thousand students may prefer a smaller HBCU.

Getting there from the West Coast

The nearest major airport is BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, about 9 miles south of downtown Baltimore. By road it is roughly 15 miles to campus, and a drive or taxi typically takes about 26 minutes, according to Rome2rio. BWI is a Southwest Airlines base, and Wikipedia lists nonstop Southwest service to West Coast cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento and Seattle/Tacoma, so West Coast families may find a nonstop option. Check current routes with the airlines.

You do not need a car for the trip. BWI has a light rail stop next to Concourse E and an Amtrak and MARC station about a mile from the terminal, connected by a free shuttle. Rome2rio suggests Amtrak to Baltimore Penn Station and then a city bus as the best option without a car, at about 1 hour 23 minutes. Renting a car is simpler if you plan to see Bowie State, Howard and Coppin State on the same trip.