The admissions process, while time-consuming and complex, is also fun and fascinating. Below, we’ve included some important facts and figures that will help you understand the trends in admissions over the past 5-10 years. These percentages reflect the acceptance rates at each school within a given year.
In 2022, college acceptance rates dropped as low as 3.19% for the first time ever. Some of the most selective schools were Harvard University (3.19%) in Cambridge, MA, Yale University (4.4%) in New Haven, CT, and Columbia University (3.73%) in New York, NY.
| School | Acceptance Rates | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2020 | 2015 | 2005 | |
| Amherst College | 9% | 11.8% | 13.7% | 18% |
| Boston College | 15.9% | 23.8% | 28% | 38% |
| Brown University | 5% | 6.8% | 8.5% | 16% |
| Columbia University | 4% | 6.1% | 6.1% | 12% |
| Cornell University | 6.72% | 10.7% | 14.8% | 31% |
| Dartmouth College | 5% | 8.8% | 10.3% | 18% |
| Duke University | 5% | 7.7% | 10% | 23% |
| George Washington University | 43.5% | 38.7% | 45.5% | 39% |
| Georgetown University | 12% | 15.5% | 16.4% | 23% |
| Harvard University | 4% | 4.9% | 5.3% | 11% |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 5% | 7.2% | 8% | 16% |
| Middlebury College | 15.7% | 24.3% | 17% | 23% |
| New York University | 8% | 15.3% | 30.7% | 32% |
| Northeastern University | TBA | 20.1% | 29% | 45% |
| Northwestern University | 8% | 9% | 13% | 33% |
| Pomona College | 6.5% | 7.2% | 9.7% | 19% |
| Princeton University | 4.4% | 5.5% | 6.9% | 10% |
| Stanford University | 3.9% | 5.2% | 5.05% | 13% |
| Swarthmore College | 7% | 8.8% | 12.1% | 25% |
| Tulane University | 9.8% | 12.9% | 28% | 25% |
| University of California – Berkeley | 11% | 17.5% | 17% | 27% |
| University of Miami | TBA | 27.1% | 38.2% | 42.1% |
| University of Michigan | 18% | 26.1% | 26% | 63% |
| University of Notre Dame | 11% | 16.5% | 20% | 29% |
| University of Pennsylvania | 5.4 | 8% | 9.9% | 29% |
| University of Southern California | 9% | 15.8% | 17.5% | 27% |
| University of Virginia | 16% | 20.5% | 28.5% | 39% |
| Vanderbilt University | 5% | 11.6% | 11% | 40% |
| Washington University in St. Louis | 11% | 16% | 17.13% | 20% |
| Wesleyan University | 16% | 20% | 22% | 28% |
| Williams College | 8% | 15% | 16.8% | 21% |
| Yale University | 4% | 6.4% | 6.5% | 11% |
| School | 2025 | 2020 | 2015 | 2005 |