The Series
Real acceptance rates, school by school
A published acceptance rate is an average of very different odds. We took 103 universities’ own admissions filings apart to find the numbers that actually apply to an applicant: by application round, and by the major or college you apply through. The widest gap in the series belongs to UCLA, where the same published rate covers odds ranging from 0.5% to 24%.
When you apply changes the number
At these 30 schools, the binding early round and everything else are effectively two different admissions processes. One honest caveat we repeat in every article: the early pool is not the same population as the regular pool, so these gaps overstate what switching rounds would do for an identical applicant.
| School | Published rate | Early Decision | Everyone else |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amherst | 7.72% | 22.25%Early Decision | 6.78%Everyone else |
| Boston College | 13.9% | 33.45%Early Decision | 13.77%Everyone else |
| Boston University | 12.83% | 31.35%Early Decision | 11%Everyone else |
| Bowdoin | 6.8% | 14.91%Early Decision | 5.48%Everyone else |
| Brown | 5.6% | 16.46%Early Decision | 4.23%Everyone else |
| Case Western | 35.31% | 24.98%Early Decision | 35.6%Everyone else |
| Colgate | 13.88% | 19.5%Early Decision | 13.1%Everyone else |
| Cornell | 8.38% | 18.78%Early Decision | 6.7%Everyone else |
| Dartmouth | 6.02% | 21.62%Early Decision | 3.77%Everyone else |
| Duke | 5.2% | 12.6%Early Decision | 4.2%Everyone else |
| Emory | 10.3% | 22.19%Early Decision | 8.59%Everyone else |
| Hamilton | 13.6% | 28.1%Early Decision | 11.5%Everyone else |
| Johns Hopkins | 6.11% | 10.93%Early Decision | 5.25%Everyone else |
| Lehigh | 28.96% | 47.35%Early Decision | 26.79%Everyone else |
| Middlebury | 12.77% | 39.02%Early Decision | 9.87%Everyone else |
| Northeastern | 5.22% | 43.05%Early Decision | 3.83%Everyone else |
| Northwestern | 7.7% | 23%Early Decision | 5.9%Everyone else |
| Penn | 5.4% | 14.22%Early Decision | 4.05%Everyone else |
| Pomona | 7.09% | 12.98%Early Decision | 6.12%Everyone else |
| Rice | 8.01% | 11.26%Early Decision | 7.41%Everyone else |
| Swarthmore | 7.52% | 17.8%Early Decision | 6.39%Everyone else |
| Tufts | 10.81% | 32.02%Early Decision | 9.28%Everyone else |
| Tulane | 14.46% | 58.21%Early Decision | 11.51%Everyone else |
| Vanderbilt | 5.38% | 14.09%Early Decision | 4.09%Everyone else |
| Villanova | 28.14% | 59.82%Early Decision | 25.93%Everyone else |
| WashU | 11.92% | 25.27%Early Decision | 9.79%Everyone else |
| Wesleyan | 16% | 39.11%Early Decision | 13.76%Everyone else |
| Williams | 8.61% | 26.56%Early Decision | 7.42%Everyone else |
| MIT | 4.56% | 5.98%Early Action | 3.5%Regular Action |
| Claremont McKenna | 9.44% | 22.09%Early Decision | 7.36%Non-ED (derived) |
What you apply for changes the number
At these 71 universities, the campus-wide rate is nearly meaningless on its own. The college, program, or residency category you apply through decides your odds, sometimes by an order of magnitude.
| School | Published rate | Least selective unit | Most selective unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miami | 17.61% | 23.18%In-state (Florida) | 9.45%International |
| Georgia Tech | 13.34% | 17.4%Ivan Allen College (of Liberal Arts) | 9.7%College of Computing |
| Purdue | 43.4% | 73.9%College of Pharmacy | 7.7%Professional Flight Technology (Flight) |
| UC Berkeley | 11.45% | 18.08%Rausser College of Natural Resources | 5.18%Haas School of Business |
| UC Irvine | 28.95% | 34.18%Arts & Humanities | 16.16%Business |
| UCLA | 8.97% | 24%Herb Alpert School of Music | 0.5%School of Nursing |
| UIUC | 36.6% | 48.5%College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmen | 7.4%Computer Science (major, within Grainger Colle |
| UW | 41.75% | 47%All First-Year Applicants (baseline for non-ca | 2%Computer Science/Computer Engineering (Direct |
| UNC Chapel Hill | 16.72% | 37.01%In-state | 9.63%Out-of-state |
| Penn State | 60.56% | 98.67%Berks (Commonwealth) | 60.56%University Park |
| UVA | 16.81% | 17.71%Engineering | 8.88%Nursing |
| Virginia Tech | 54.57% | 58.67%Out-of-state | 47.33%In-state |
| Ohio State | 60.57% | 99.47%Mansfield (regional) | 60.57%Columbus |
| Pitt | 58.08% | 95.21%Greensburg (regional) | 58.08%Pittsburgh (Oakland) |
| Michigan | 16.42% | 17.91%LSA | 7.1%Ross School of Business |
| Clemson | 42.43% | 52.92%In-state | 40.41%Out-of-state |
| UGA | 34.25% | 42.13%In-state | 27.88%Out-of-state |
| UW-Madison | 40.81% | 56.39%Wisconsin resident | 31.6%International |
| Texas Tech | 72.65% | 74.82%In-state | 33.65%International |
| Arizona | 83.51% | 90.45%Out-of-state | 49.91%International |
| Binghamton | 38.61% | 79.18%Out-of-state | 31.32%In-state (New York) |
| Stony Brook | 48.18% | 67.09%International | 39.95%In-state (New York) |
| Delaware | 69.24% | 70.72%In-state | 54.79%International |
| Kentucky | 93.52% | 95.28%In-state | 89.87%International |
| Michigan State | 83.24% | 88.19%International | 81.54%Out-of-state |
| Vermont | 73.04% | 76.54%In-state | 30.44%International |
| UC Santa Cruz | 72.48% | 84.03%Domestic nonresident | 70.99%California resident |
| Princeton | 4.62% | 5.48%Out-of-state | 2.11%International |
| Baylor | 52.22% | 54.5%Out-of-state | 49.59%International |
| RPI | 67.25% | 68.46%Out-of-state | 56.24%International |
| Brandeis | 45.41% | 63.67%Out-of-state | 17.95%International |
| Howard | 42.19% | 59.81%International | 38.62%DC in-state |
| Rochester | 41.91% | 58.62%Out-of-state | 18.17%International |
| Houston | 75.77% | 85.35%International | 62.33%Out-of-state |
| Cincinnati | 88.04% | 90.46%In-state (Ohio) | 83.27%International |
| Drexel | 69.9% | 76.15%Out-of-state | 57.43%International |
| Utah | 90.15% | 90.39%Out-of-state | 89.71%In-state |
| James Madison | 68.79% | 87.92%International | 64.15%In-state |
| Marquette | 78.02% | 79.69%Out-of-state | 65.39%International |
| CU Boulder | 70.67% | 85.11%Arts & Sciences | 32.36%Leeds School of Business |
| Bates | 14.83% | 27.64%Out-of-state | 3.18%International |
| Carleton | 21.78% | 39.27%Out-of-state | 4.01%International |
| Harvey Mudd | 12.33% | 17.84%Out-of-state | 5.33%International |
| Notre Dame | 9.38% | 10.6%Out-of-state (US) | 4.25%International |
| Loyola Chicago | 75.1% | 87.12%Out-of-state | 47.27%International |
| Denver | 85.38% | 87.95%Out-of-state | 62.79%International |
| Temple | 86.22% | 87.68%Out-of-State | 71.9%International |
| Gonzaga | 79.62% | 82.04%Out-of-state | 51.71%International |
| Hofstra | 72.67% | 81.87%Out-of-state | 6.14%International |
| Santa Clara | 47.88% | 54.36%Out-of-state | 28.61%International |
| Iowa | 79.9% | 84.59%In-state | 42.41%International |
| San Diego State | 37.41% | 90.7%Out-of-State | 31.32%In-State (California resident) |
| UConn | 54.35% | 64.14%International | 40.54%In-state |
| George Mason | 87.48% | 87.82%In-state | 86.93%Out-of-state |
| Rhode Island | 74.56% | 74.9%Out-of-state | 72.78%In-state |
| Iowa State | 87.93% | 92.08%In-state | 64.94%International |
| Ole Miss | 97.38% | 98.21%In-state | 97.27%Out-of-state |
| Arkansas | 73.88% | 79.17%In-state | 11.53%International |
| Vassar | 20.93% | 29.24%Out-of-state | 4.99%International |
| Haverford | 13.31% | 23.3%Out-of-state | 3.81%International |
| Wellesley | 14.79% | 21.63%In-State | 3.42%International |
| Kansas | 92.58% | 94.26%International | 91.69%Out-of-state |
| Oberlin | 33.01% | 45.41%Out-of-state | 11.11%International |
| George Washington | 47.13% | 49.17%Out-of-state | 31.95%In-state |
| NC State | 39.54% | 46.23%In-state | 25.19%International |
| Davidson | 12.62% | 20.42%Out-of-state | 2.38%International |
| Buffalo | 80.59% | 94.42%International | 70.48%Out-of-state |
| West Virginia | 77.27% | 80.69%Out-of-state | 36.43%International |
| North Texas | 70.89% | 72.89%In-state | 40.7%International |
| UIC | 77.35% | 79.95%Out-of-state | 51.22%International |
| New Hampshire | 89.14% | 89.95%Out-of-state | 85.34%International |
Every figure comes from the university’s own Common Data Set filing, official class profile, or public institutional dashboard, with the cohort year stated in each article. Where a school does not publish a breakdown, we say so rather than estimate.
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The transfer numbers nobody quotes
At 27 universities we can read a transfer and a first-year rate from the same filing. Transfer is easier at most of them — but whether it is depends on how selective the school is to begin with, and at the ones that already admit half or more of their first-year applicants it runs the other way. We worked that through in the transfer door opens where the front one is narrow.
| School | Freshman rate | Transfer rate | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vanderbilt | 5.38% | 26.16% | 4.9x easier |
| NYU | 9.06% | 38.65% | 4.3x easier |
| Northeastern | 5.21% | 19.74% | 3.8x easier |
| Boston University | 11.11% | 34.6% | 3.1x easier |
| UCLA | 9.41% | 23.4% | 2.5x easier |
| USC | 11.19% | 27.05% | 2.4x easier |
| Columbia | 3.86% | 8.97% | 2.3x easier |
| Emory | 10.3% | 22.68% | 2.2x easier |
| UC Berkeley | 11.45% | 24.18% | 2.1x easier |
| Florida | 20.3% | 40.5% | 2x easier |
| UC San Diego | 28.56% | 52.76% | 1.8x easier |
| Georgia Tech | 13.34% | 20.03% | 1.5x easier |
| UC Santa Barbara | 38.2% | 59% | 1.5x easier |
| UC Irvine | 28.95% | 39.54% | 1.4x easier |
| UC Davis | 45% | 57% | 1.3x easier |
| UIUC | 36.59% | 43.41% | 1.2x easier |
| Cornell | 8.41% | 9.28% | 1.1x easier |
| UT Austin | 22.22% | 21.96% | about the same |
| West Virginia | 77.27% | 55.85% | about the same |
| UIC | 75.76% | 55.18% | about the same |
| Buffalo | 80.59% | 65.45% | about the same |
| Kansas | 92.58% | 84.42% | about the same |
| George Washington | 47.13% | 60.07% | 1.27x easier |
| North Texas | 70.89% | 70.91% | about the same |
| New Hampshire | 89.14% | 89.63% | about the same |
| NC State | 39.54% | 45.17% | 1.14x easier |
| Davidson | 12.62% | 18.42% | 1.46x easier |
Freshman and transfer rates are drawn from the same institution’s filing for the same cohort wherever possible, so the two are directly comparable. Cohort years are stated in each school’s article.
What the whole set shows
Some findings only appear once enough filings sit side by side. These three come from the corpus as a whole rather than from any one school, and each states the exact set of schools it covers.
Build a list around the real numbers
Our free tools use published admissions data the same way: the college list builder sorts schools against your score, the deadlines tracker shows every early and regular date, and the testing policy tracker covers who requires scores this cycle.
