college acceptance rate data
college acceptance rate data
For example: Harvard, 4.2%
Let’s get one thing straight: getting into Harvard is no easy feat. With 4.2% acceptance rate, it’s the most difficult Ivy League school to get into and has a lower rate than all the public universities in California and the rest of the United States. Additionally, Harvard has a higher acceptance rate than MIT.
Harvard also has a lower admission rate than Stanford—so even if we’re not talking about schools with humanities programs here, this information stands as proof that you can’t take admissions rates as an accurate measure of how difficult it is to gain admission to a university.
Despite that, Princeton, with its 5% acceptance rate, often comes up in conversations as “the hardest Ivy to get into”; many students might think that getting into Princeton would be more challenging than getting into Harvard or Yale because it has the lowest acceptance rate of all three schools. But this information should prove otherwise!
For example: Stanford, 5.0%
Stanford University is a private research university in Palo Alto, California. The school has about 17,300 students and an acceptance rate of 5.0%. Stanford was founded in 1891 by a New York journalist named Leland Stanford and his wife, Jane Lathrop Stanford. Originally called the “Stanford Mining School,” it eventually became known as the “Stanford Graduate School of Business” due to its popular business program (which still exists today). In 1925, Leland Stanford’s son, Harvard football star and Olympic medalist Frederick T. Gates donated $13 million to the university, which allowed them to expand greatly over time. Eventually it was renamed after both father and son. Admissions officers are looking for strong grades across multiple subjects as well as an exceptional essay or personal statement on your college application.
For example: Brown, 8.2%
As an example, Brown University has a higher acceptance rate than Harvard University but is not necessarily easier to get into. Brown’s overall acceptance rate has been increasing in recent years, going from 8.2% in 2016 to 9.7% in 2017 and 11.7% in 2018 (the most recent year available). The institutions size and number of applications also play into the school’s acceptance rate because only a certain amount of students can be admitted—if they receive more applications than they have spots for, the admission rate will decrease.
Students should take the acceptance rate into consideration when applying to schools but shouldn’t let it be the deciding factor for which college to attend. There are many other factors that should be taken into account when choosing a college, such as location and cost of living. In addition, there are some things about each school that you may like or dislike more than other schools based on your personal preferences; do your research so that you know what you’re signing up for!
For example: Columbia, 5.4%
The Class of 2021 at Columbia University is now confirmed as its largest ever, with 6,696 students making up the incoming freshman class. This marks a 5.4% increase from last year and a 13% increase compared to 2013, when the university had its smallest freshman class in 34 years.
- There were over 40,000 applications for this year’s freshmen class. -The acceptance rate is 5.4%. -Over 80% of students accepted ended up enrolling at the university. -More than 1,100 students were deferred by their application but were invited to join Columbia in the spring semester via one of five spring admission programs. -Of those not offered admission this year, 3,600 applied early action or early decision to other schools and 900 submitted common application or different application materials to another college or university.
For example: Cornell, 10.3%
Cornell University, located in Ithaca, New York, is one of the world’s most prestigious schools. Cornell is a part of the Ivy League and has an undergraduate acceptance rate of 10.3 percent. The school’s 745 acres are home to 42 buildings and over 1,000 student organizations. Cornell was founded in 1865 and has been instrumental in developing high tech fields such as artificial intelligence and nanotechnology. As early as 1868, students at Cornell were experimenting with unmanned aerial vehicles (or “flying machines”), which led to the foundation of the first aerospace engineering program in the U.S., started on-campus in 1926 by Carl C. Magee Jr., who would go on to become president of Caltech from 1954 until 1960 as well as director of NASA from 1960 until 1963.
For example: Dartmouth, 10.0%
To help you better understand the likelihood of being accepted to a particular college, we’ve pulled together a table of applicant data from the top-ranked institutions in the United States.
Every year, thousands of students apply to these ten schools, but not all will be accepted. Individual colleges have their own entrance requirements and standards by which they decide who gets invited in and who has to try again next year. These rates show how competitive it is to get into each school; some are less selective than others, but all have a legacy that goes back decades.
For example: Dartmouth College accepts approximately 10 percent of its applicants. This means that for every 100 prospective students who apply each year, only 10 receive admission—and those lucky few will probably get hefty scholarships to boot!
For example: University of Pennsylvania, 9.0%
The acceptance rate for the University of Pennsylvania is 9.0%, and the most recent data available is from 2018. The acceptance rate has been stable over the past four years. The University of Pennsylvania, often referred to as Penn, is one of the most prestigious Ivy League universities in the United States. It was founded in 1740 by Benjamin Franklin and John Bartram, and has gone on to help shape American history with its diverse student body and alumni network that includes actors such as Michael Douglas, Hugh Jackman, and Paul Rudd; musicians like John Legend, Snoop Dogg, Taylor Swift; and writers like Danielle Steele.
In 2017–18 there were 890 applications for every 100 spots at University of Pennsylvania. This number was up slightly from 2016–17 when there were 884 applications per 100 spots.
If you’re interested in attending this university or another Ivy League school with a similarly competitive admissions process, you’ll want to make sure your application includes top-notch academics and extracurricular activities.
For example: Princeton, 7.1%
For example, Harvard University received over 39,000 applications in 2017 and accepted only 5.2% of applicants to its class of 2022. These numbers are significantly lower than they were a decade ago, likely due in part to the fact that there are now more top-tier universities than ever before. Princeton University’s 2017 acceptance rate was 7.1%, while the enrollment rate for that same year was 93%.
What this means is that you have a much better chance at admission by going to Princeton than you do trying to get into Harvard.
The Ivy League universities are still very competitive to get into!
The eight Ivy League universities in the Northeast United States (Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania and Yale) are legendarily competitive to attend. Although they are not officially selective schools like Stanford or MIT—meaning they don’t have an acceptance rate below 30%—they rarely have an acceptance rate higher than 10%, which is quite low in the grand scheme of things.
Once considered the pinnacle of higher education institutions, these schools are still incredibly prestigious and offer a truly unique experience within the American landscape of higher education. They still receive applications from highly-qualified students who hope to work hard and succeed while there. The difference now between then is that their reputation has lessened somewhat with the rise of other very strong colleges across the country that offer similar appeal at a fraction of the cost for students and their families.