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To absolutely no one’s surprise, this was a very competitive year for college applications. With each passing year more applicants pen Early Action and Early Decision love letters to their dream schools. In response, top schools have carried on with their tradition of accepting a very small percentage of these eager applicant pools (but still more than the Regular Decision pool).
As schools announce their acceptance rates, we will update this list, so make sure to check back!
Barnard: Acceptance rates not released
Brown: 18.4%
Columbia: TBA
Cornell: Acceptance rates not released
Dartmouth: Acceptance rates not released
Duke: 12.8%
Emory: 27.6%
Harvard: TBA
MIT: 5.98%
Notre Dame: 12.9%
Princeton: TBA
Rice: 13.2%
University of Georgia: 31% (41.6% in-state; 23.5% out-of-state)
UPenn: Acceptance rates not released
UVA: 29.5% in-state; 21% out-of-state
Williams: 26.6%
Yale: 10.8%
If you didn’t receive the news you were hoping for this month, remember that you are in the majority! College admissions is incredibly competitive in the U.S. and getting a rejection or deferral does not mean that you still can’t secure admission to a school that is a great fit for you. Just follow our advice and keep calm. As Dorothy once sang in Wizard of Oz, “Somewhere over the rainbow/ Way up high/ There’s a college that I heard of/ Once in a catalogue.” (There’s a chance we’re remembering part of that wrong.)
Write a deferral letter! Set yourself apart from other deferred applicants by going the extra mile to reconfirm your interest.
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It depends! Some schools release their acceptance rates simultaneously with their decision notifications, whereas others wait until the spring.
Typically, yes. More applicants tend to be accepted via Early Action and Early Decision then via Regular Decision.
Yes, most colleges accept a higher percentage of Early Action applicants than Regular Decision applicants. For example, MIT was 1.4x more likely to admit EA applicants for the class of 2025. We encourage all of our students to apply Early Action when they can.
Yes, most colleges accept a higher percentage of Early Decision applicants than Regular Decision applicants. For example, Brown was 4x more likely to admit ED applicants, and Duke was 6x more likely to admit ED applicants for the class of 2025. If applicants feel comfortable applying Early Decision (which is a binding application commitment without knowing what the financial aid package will look like), we encourage them to do so to increase their odds of admission.
Rice accepted 13.2% of Early Decision applicants for the Class of 2029. Their overall acceptance rate is likely to fall around 7% once Regular Decision applications are taken into account, given admissions data from previous years.
Yes, if you apply to a school via Early Decision and are accepted, you will be expected to withdraw any other pending applications and attend. This means you should be 100% sure that you would like to attend your Early Decision school. If you’re not 100% sure, you can try applying via Early Action instead.
