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College acceptance rates, newest cycle first
38 of the 110 universities below admitted fewer than 15% of their applicants in the newest cycle on file; type your SAT to sort them into reach, target and likely.
Universities that are a target or likely for this score
47 of 110
Every school admitting under 15% stays a reach.
Admit rate of the newest cycle each school published; score position approximated from its 25th and 75th percentiles. How this is calculated.
| University | Admit rate | SAT middle 50% | You |
|---|---|---|---|
| California Institute of Technology CA | 3.79% | 1,550 to 1,580 | Reach |
| Stanford University CA | 3.80% | 1,520 to 1,570 | Reach |
| Harvard University MA | 4.18% | 1,450 to 1,560 | Reach |
| Princeton University NJ | 4.42% | 1,490 to 1,560 | Reach |
| University of Chicago IL | 4.48% | 1,500 to 1,560 | Reach |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology MA | 4.56% | 1,520 to 1,570 | Reach |
| Yale University CT | 4.75% | 1,480 to 1,560 | Reach |
| University of Pennsylvania PA | 4.92% | 1,510 to 1,570 | Reach |
| Columbia University NY | 4.94% | 1,510 to 1,560 | Reach |
| Northeastern University MA | 5.22% | 1,450 to 1,520 | Reach |
| Duke University NC | 5.24% | 1,510 to 1,570 | Reach |
| Vanderbilt University TN | 5.38% | 1,510 to 1,560 | Reach |
| Brown University RI | 5.60% | 1,470 to 1,550 | Reach |
| Dartmouth College NH | 6.02% | 1,440 to 1,550 | Reach |
| Johns Hopkins University MD | 6.44% | 1,520 to 1,570 | Reach |
| Bowdoin College ME | 6.81% | 1,470 to 1,540 | Reach |
| Pomona College CA | 7.14% | 1,490 to 1,550 | Reach |
| Swarthmore College PA | 7.44% | 1,480 to 1,550 | Reach |
| Northwestern University IL | 7.47% | 1,520 to 1,560 | Reach |
| Amherst College MA | 7.72% | 1,470 to 1,540 | Reach |
| Rice University TX | 8.01% | 1,510 to 1,560 | Reach |
| Cornell University NY | 8.38% | 1,490 to 1,550 | Reach |
| Williams College MA | 8.61% | 1,490 to 1,550 | Reach |
| New York University NY | 9.06% | 1,480 to 1,550 | Reach |
| Emory University GA | 10.3% | 1,480 to 1,540 | Reach |
| University of California, Berkeley CA | 10.5% | test-free | Reach |
| Tufts University MA | 10.8% | 1,460 to 1,520 | Reach |
| University of California, Los Angeles CA | 10.8% | test-free | Reach |
| Carnegie Mellon University PA | 11.1% | 1,500 to 1,560 | Reach |
| University of Southern California CA | 11.2% | 1,470 to 1,540 | Reach |
| University of Notre Dame IN | 11.3% | 1,455 to 1,560 | Reach |
| Washington University in St. Louis MO | 12.2% | 1,510 to 1,550 | Reach |
| Boston University MA | 12.8% | 1,420 to 1,510 | Reach |
| Georgia Institute of Technology GA | 13.3% | 1,370 to 1,530 | Reach |
| Boston College MA | 13.4% | 1,460 to 1,520 | Reach |
| Georgetown University DC | 13.5% | 1,405 to 1,530 | Reach |
| Tulane University LA | 14.0% | 1,400 to 1,520 | Reach |
| Wellesley College MA | 14.8% | 1,460 to 1,540 | Reach |
| University of Virginia VA | 15.6% | 1,410 to 1,510 | Reach |
| University of Michigan MI | 16.4% | 1,370 to 1,530 | Reach |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill NC | 16.7% | 1,400 to 1,530 | Reach |
| University of Florida FL | 20.3% | 1,330 to 1,490 | Reach |
| Wake Forest University NC | 20.8% | 1,420 to 1,490 | Reach |
| University of Miami FL | 22.1% | 1,350 to 1,450 | Reach |
| The University of Texas at Austin TX | 22.2% | 1,250 to 1,510 | Target |
| Florida State University FL | 23.8% | 1,300 to 1,410 | Reach |
| Villanova University PA | 27.0% | 1,395 to 1,510 | Reach |
| University of California, San Diego CA | 27.2% | test-free | Target |
| University of California, Irvine CA | 30.3% | test-free | Target |
| Cal Poly San Luis Obispo CA | 31.3% | n/a | Target |
| William & Mary VA | 34.1% | 1,400 to 1,530 | Reach |
| Case Western Reserve University OH | 35.3% | 1,440 to 1,530 | Reach |
| San Diego State University CA | 36.2% | n/a | Target |
| University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign IL | 36.6% | 1,390 to 1,520 | Reach |
| University of Georgia GA | 37.7% | 1,270 to 1,480 | Target |
| Clemson University SC | 38.3% | 1,240 to 1,410 | Target |
| Binghamton University NY | 38.6% | 1,340 to 1,500 | Reach |
| University of Washington WA | 39.2% | n/a | Target |
| University of South Florida FL | 40.7% | 1,160 to 1,340 | Target |
| University of Wisconsin-Madison WI | 40.8% | 1,400 to 1,490 | Reach |
| Howard University DC | 41.3% | 1,090 to 1,320 | Target |
| University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN | 41.6% | 1,200 to 1,370 | Target |
| NC State University NC | 41.7% | 1,300 to 1,470 | Reach |
| University of Rochester NY | 41.9% | 1,400 to 1,510 | Reach |
| University of Central Florida FL | 42.8% | 1,220 to 1,350 | Target |
| University of California, Santa Barbara CA | 44.0% | test-free | Target |
| University of Maryland MD | 45.0% | 1,410 to 1,520 | Reach |
| University of California, Davis CA | 45.8% | test-free | Target |
| Auburn University AL | 45.9% | 1,260 to 1,390 | Target |
| Cal State Long Beach CA | 46.3% | n/a | Target |
| George Washington University DC | 47.1% | 1,350 to 1,500 | Reach |
| Southern Methodist University TX | 47.6% | 1,360 to 1,470 | Reach |
| Texas Christian University TX | 48.1% | 1,110 to 1,330 | Target |
| Syracuse University NY | 48.8% | 1,300 to 1,410 | Reach |
| Stony Brook University NY | 49.0% | 1,330 to 1,500 | Reach |
| Purdue University IN | 49.9% | 1,200 to 1,480 | Target |
| Texas A&M University TX | 51.7% | 1,160 to 1,390 | Target |
| Baylor University TX | 52.2% | 1,190 to 1,370 | Target |
| University of Connecticut CT | 52.4% | 1,210 to 1,440 | Target |
| Virginia Tech VA | 54.8% | 1,280 to 1,450 | Target |
| Penn State University Park PA | 55.3% | 1,280 to 1,410 | Target |
| University of Pittsburgh PA | 58.1% | 1,280 to 1,460 | Target |
| Rutgers University-New Brunswick NJ | 58.2% | 1,310 to 1,500 | Reach |
| Fordham University NY | 59.3% | 1,320 to 1,480 | Reach |
| UMass Amherst MA | 59.7% | 1,310 to 1,500 | Reach |
| University of South Carolina SC | 60.2% | 1,180 to 1,360 | Likely |
| The Ohio State University OH | 60.6% | 1,310 to 1,480 | Reach |
| American University DC | 62.0% | 1,280 to 1,460 | Target |
| Brigham Young University UT | 67.8% | 1,270 to 1,460 | Target |
| Pepperdine University CA | 69.4% | 1,240 to 1,410 | Target |
| Texas Tech University TX | 72.7% | 1,090 to 1,280 | Likely |
| Louisiana State University LA | 73.3% | 1,180 to 1,340 | Likely |
| University of Houston TX | 73.9% | 1,160 to 1,340 | Likely |
| University of Arkansas AR | 74.3% | 1,030 to 1,220 | Likely |
| University of Oklahoma OK | 76.6% | 1,140 to 1,330 | Likely |
| The University of Alabama AL | 76.6% | 1,170 to 1,400 | Likely |
| University of Colorado Boulder CO | 78.1% | 1,240 to 1,430 | Target |
| Indiana University Bloomington IN | 78.2% | 1,170 to 1,400 | Likely |
| University of Missouri MO | 78.5% | 1,150 to 1,330 | Likely |
| University of Minnesota Twin Cities MN | 79.8% | 1,300 to 1,500 | Reach |
| Temple University PA | 80.4% | n/a | Likely |
| University of California, Santa Cruz CA | 82.3% | test-free | Likely |
| University of Iowa IA | 83.6% | 1,130 to 1,330 | Likely |
| Michigan State University MI | 84.8% | 1,180 to 1,360 | Likely |
| University of Utah UT | 86.0% | 1,190 to 1,380 | Likely |
| University of Arizona AZ | 86.1% | 1,150 to 1,420 | Likely |
| University of Oregon OR | 88.3% | 1,130 to 1,360 | Likely |
| University of California, Riverside CA | 88.5% | test-free | Likely |
| Arizona State University AZ | 89.9% | n/a | Likely |
| University of Kentucky KY | 92.9% | 1,070 to 1,290 | Likely |
Built by Radif Partners · Method and data · Editorial policy
An acceptance rate is the share of first-year applicants a university admitted in one cycle: admitted students divided by applicants, as counted in section C1 of its Common Data Set. The table above gives it for 110 of the most searched US universities, for the newest entering class each school has documented: 63 rates come from the university's own fall 2025 figures, the others from the federal fall 2024 data, and every page names the class. The five lowest on file are Caltech (3.79%), Stanford (3.80%), Harvard (4.18%), Princeton (4.42%) and UChicago (4.48%). 9 universities admit fewer than 5% of applicants and 34 admit half or more. For a student with a 1300 SAT, the site's rule makes 47 of them a target or a likely school; change the score to see the list move.
How the rate is computed, and why sites disagree
Each university counts its own applicants and offers and publishes them every year in the Common Data Set, a standard questionnaire used across American higher education. The rate on this site is computed from those two counts, so it carries the decimals the counts give: Harvard's 4.18% is 2,003 offers over 47,893 applications. Other pages round to "4%", quote a March press figure that excluded the waiting list, or copy last year's class. The federal IPEDS survey publishes the same rate later and for an older class. None of these is wrong; they describe different things, and the date is what makes them comparable.
The rate is not your probability
At a university that admits 30% of applicants, a strong student does not face a 30% chance, and a weak one does not either. The pool mixes every profile, early and regular applicants, residents and nonresidents, and majors with very different capacity. What the rate does tell you reliably is the ceiling: below 15%, even applicants at the top of the score range are turned down far more often than admitted, which is why the label on this site is "reach" for everyone there. Above that threshold the score starts to sort applicants, and the label follows where yours falls in the middle 50% of enrolled students.
ACT to SAT in one step
SAT equivalent
1,280
| SAT range for that ACT | 1,260 to 1,290 |
2018 ACT/SAT Concordance Tables.
Rates that rose, rates that fell
A rising rate does not always mean an easier school. When Harvard, Dartmouth and others required test scores again, their applicant counts fell and their rates edged up, since students without a score stopped applying; the competition among those who remained did not soften. Falling rates at public flagships often come the other way, from a jump in out-of-state applications through the Common App while resident places stayed fixed. Each university page shows its admissions by cycle so you can see the counts behind the change.
Public universities and the resident share
Several public universities admit residents and nonresidents at very different rates, because state law or board policy fixes the share of residents in the class. At the University of California and at flagships such as UNC Chapel Hill or Virginia, a resident can face an admit rate several times higher than an out-of-state applicant. When the university publishes the split, its page says so; the overall rate in the table mixes both groups. The tuition page shows what residency does to the price.
Using the table to build a list
Counselors usually suggest a list with a few reach schools, several targets and at least two likely schools whose net price the family can afford. Sort the table by admit rate, type your SAT, and filter public or private. Then open each name to see its net price by income, and check the price with the net price ranking before falling in love with a campus. A likely school that the family cannot pay is not on the list.