As we reach the height of summer, soon to be seniors enjoy their time in the sun, while the specter of college applications loom in the background, like thunderstorms on a sunny summer day. Many students worry about their chances, and how colleges make admissions decisions, and what their odds really are of getting into the college of their dreams.
In this article, we’re going to go over data from top 40 colleges, covering the past year of admissions. How many students applied, how many got in, how many were waitlisted, and what happened to those that were. By compiling this information, we hope to give current seniors a look at college admissions as it stands currently, so they can better understand their place in it.
Where the Data Comes From
Colleges report certain data as part of a collective effort by interested parties, including College Board and US News. This is compiled in the form of the Common Data Set, which includes staggering amounts of data about applications, graduation rates, academic offerings, student life, expenses, and financial aid, to name just a few.
This data is not compiled in any singular location, but most colleges also make it available to the public in the interest of transparency. Not every college answers every question, and the answers are not always as in-depth as we would prefer, but this is a wonderful source of data to learn about college admissions.
Due to the lack of centralization, however, this data can be difficult for students to use. After all, high school seniors have many demands on their time, and looking up data for dozens of colleges is likely not high on their list of priorities. We are compiling all of this data in one place as a means to help students, so they can easily look up the most relevant details for them in one easy place.
Acceptance Data From 2024
This table covers the data from top 40 colleges in 2024. These schools are organized alphabetically for your convenience. For each college, we provide the following information if it is available on the Common Data Set: number of applicants, number of students accepted, number of students waitlisted, and number of students accepted off the waitlist.
| University | # Applied | # Accepted | Acceptance Rate | # Waitlisted | # Accepted off Waitlist |
| Boston College | 39,846 | 7,587 | 19.0% | 13,040 | 13 |
| Boston University | 80,490 | 8,733 | 10.8% | 15,033 | 34 |
| Brandeis University | 11,282 | 3,986 | 35.3% | 2,340 | 339 |
| Brown University | 51,316 | 2,686 | 5.2% | * | 73 |
| Caltech | 13,071 | 412 | 3.2% | 213 | 0 |
| Carnegie Mellon University | 33,707 | 3,843 | 11.4% | 8,587 | 75 |
| Case Western | 39,039 | 11,193 | 28.7% | 11,841 | 1,141 |
| Columbia University | 60,374 | 2,255 | 3.7% | * | * |
| Cornell University | 67,846 | 5,358 | 7.9% | 8,282 | 362 |
| Dartmouth College | 28,841 | 1,797 | 6.2% | 2,352 | 0 |
| Duke University | * | * | * | * | * |
| Emory University | 33,255 | 3,543 | 10.7% | 5,875 | 123 |
| Georgetown University | 25,485 | 3,334 | 13.1% | 2,274 | 93 |
| Georgia Tech | 52,377 | 8,622 | 16.5% | 5,809 | 60 |
| Harvard | 56,937 | 1,965 | 3.5% | * | * |
| Johns Hopkins | 38,926 | 2,943 | 7.6% | 2,478 | 71 |
| MIT | 33,767 | 1,337 | 3.9% | 763 | 0 |
| New York University | 113,578 | 10,693 | 9.4% | * | * |
| Northeastern | 96,631 | 5,459 | 5.6% | * | * |
| Northwestern | 51,769 | 3,739 | 7.2% | * | 55 |
| Notre Dame | 28,353 | 3,510 | 12.4% | 2,784 | 90 |
| Princeton University | 38,019 | 2,167 | 5.7% | 1,710 | 0 |
| Rice University | 31,443 | 2,730 | 8.7% | 4,244 | 0 |
| Stanford University | 53,733 | 2,099 | 3.9% | 607 | 76 |
| Tufts University | 34,003 | 3,444 | 10.1% | 2,565 | 200 |
| Tulane University | 27,936 | 4,077 | 14.6% | 4,062 | 43 |
| UC Berkeley | 125,916 | 14,769 | 11.7% | 7,001 | 1,191 |
| UC Davis | 94,627 | 39,399 | 41.6% | 19,446 | 4,387 |
| UC Irvine | 119,199 | 25,358 | 21.3% | * | * |
| UCLA | 145,910 | 12,737 | 8.7% | 18,329 | 1,400 |
| UC Santa Barbara | 110,876 | 30,805 | 27.8% | 15,689 | 5,493 |
| UC San Diego | 130,485 | 32,403 | 24.8% | 29,087 | 2,616 |
| UNC Chapel Hill | 57,902 | 10,852 | 18.7% | 6,154 | 36 |
| University of Chicago | 38,622 | 1,849 | 4.8% | * | * |
| University of Florida | 64,473 | 15054 | 23.3% | * | * |
| University of Michigan | 84,289 | 14,914 | 17.7% | 21,078 | 71 |
| University of Pennsylvania | 59,465 | 3,489 | 5.9% | 3,010 | 40 |
| University of Rochester | 21,680 | 7,773 | 35.9% | 2,202 | 220 |
| University of Southern California | 69,062 | 8,304 | 12.0% | * | * |
| University of Virginia | 50,926 | 9,503 | 18.7% | 8,368 | 7 |
| UT Austin | 66,109 | 19,253 | 29.1% | N/A | N/A |
| Vanderbilt | 45,313 | 2,844 | 6.3% | * | 140 |
| Wake Forest University | 17,479 | 3,768 | 21.6% | * | * |
| Washington University in St Louis | 32,240 | 3,855 | 11.9% | * | 200 |
| William & Mary | 17,548 | 5,741 | 32.7% | 3,833 | 136 |
| Yale University | 51,803 | 2,332 | 4.5% | 1,145 | 0 |
An * indicates that a school does not provide this information on their Common Data Set. N/A indicates that the school in question does not use a waiting list.
Note that Duke University has not published any Common Data Set information for the past two years; while we include them on the table, the most recent data they have is too old to be relevant to our discussion.
What Does This Data Mean?
So this is a lot of numbers, but what do they really mean? After all, data needs to be analyzed to have any use, so let’s do some analysis. We’ll cover the various trends we see emergent in this data, and how each impacts your own admissions journey.
Why do Some Top Colleges Receive More Applications?
Some schools see significantly more applications than others, even when they are otherwise somewhat similar (at least superficially). Public schools, for example, will usually get more applicants than their private counterparts, larger schools usually get more applications than smaller ones, and higher rated and Ivy League schools attract more applicants due to name recognition. These are all clear and established patterns, and make a degree of sense.
So why does Northeastern have so many more applicants than Northwestern?
Northeastern is a larger school, but not by an extreme amount. Northwestern is ranked more highly, and is generally considered a better school by most metrics. The difference is one of intent. Northeastern is one of the more aggressive schools when it comes to recruiting students and advertising. Northwestern advertises as well, but far less ferociously.
Why are Waitlists so Variable?
There are many reasons for the way waitlists are the way they are, but the most important is that waitlists are a way for universities to help themselves; any benefit to students is secondary. This is because the primary purpose of waitlists, and admitting students off of them, is to help colleges manage their enrollment numbers.
Colleges only have physical space for so many students; if they admit too many there’s overcrowding, too few and some classes may go empty. After the initial rounds of admissions, they use the waitlist to make sure the number of admitted students is in the range they want.
How many students they need to admit to do this varies by year, and so too do the number of students admitted off the waitlist. The more competitive a school is for admissions generally, the less they make use of waitlist admissions. This doesn’t mean it’s impossible to get in off the waitlist at top colleges, but know that the odds are often quite long.
Will Acceptance Rates Keep Going Down?
We have seen acceptance rates make a steady (or occasionally precipitous) decline over the past years. As they drop below 5% at some top colleges, the question rises, can they realistically get any lower?
We believe acceptance rates are nearing their nadir, though they likely won’t increase either. Part of the reason is demographic; the population of high school students in the US is not growing; while there are many international students applying to top schools as well, we are near the peak size the pool of students can reach.
We are also near the peak of students applying to many many colleges, simply for logistical reasons. The number of colleges the average student applies to has grown over time, and this has been the largest driver of increasing application numbers, but we’re reaching diminishing returns here. The Common App only allows you to apply to 20 colleges, so that is a limit for most students. Application rates may not get easier, but we don’t think they’ll get much lower either.
Exploring Notre Dame’s Acceptance Rate
Notre Dame has the highest acceptance rate of any top 20 college, and indeed has a higher acceptance rate than many top 30 universities as well. While 12.4% isn’t a high acceptance rate, it’s still unusual given its place in the rankings.
The reason here is that the population who applies to Notre Dame is largely self-selecting. Notre Dame is a Catholic school, and religion is an important part of student life at the school. You don’t have to be Catholic to apply or attend, but at the same time a significant majority of the students there are Catholic.
This means many students leave Notre Dame off their college list when deciding which top colleges to apply to. Anecdotally, we see this with many of the students we work with as well. It is a very good school, with strong academic foundations, but the religious aspect of the university is not something that all students want from their college experience. This also explains why the Jesuit Boston College has a higher acceptance rate than the secular Boston University.
Top Colleges With the Highest Acceptance Rates
A number of colleges on this list are clear outliers. Small, private, elite universities with acceptance rates at or near 30%. Brandeis, Case Western, Rochester, and William & Mary all seem to be outliers from the norm on this list. These schools are all in the top 40, but have acceptance rates higher than everywhere except the less selective UC schools on this list. Why?
While these schools are academically excellent, they do not have the name recognition of other colleges on this list. They may be well known regionally, but do not have the national renown of the Ivy League. These schools are also expensive, equaling their peers on the list, while not having nearly as large endowments, meaning that financial aid from these schools is often less than many students want.
While these schools do still offer financial aid, they cannot be as generous as many Ivy League schools with it. These schools may or may not be a good fit for you, but they can be worth looking into if you want to go to a highly ranked college but are wary of the extremely low acceptance rates at some schools on this list.
Other Insights You Can Find in the Common Data Set
The Common Data Set tracks a lot of information about colleges; some of it is more interesting than others, but much of it can be useful if you have specific questions about a college’s interests or priorities. While the admissions data we’ve covered thus far is the most obvious, here are some other ways you can use the CDS.
Admissions Office Priorities
The first thing to note are the admissions requirements and priorities of the college. These are listed in sections C4 through C12, covering everything from the average test scores of admitted students to their average GPA ranges. This is useful data if you want to compare your scores to those of a given college to see how you measure up. Note that grades are always converted to a 4.0 scale for this metric.
Of special note is section C7, which explicitly lays out which factors the admissions office of a school considers when making a decision. This doesn’t always tell you the relative weight of these factors, but whether they are considered or not can matter, especially in the case of things like demonstrated interest, which not all schools track. If you are ever curious about what aspects of your profile a college will consider, this is the place to find out.
Transfer Admissions
Section D lists information about transfer admissions, including things like acceptance rate (D2), admissions requirements (D5), and information on transferring credits to the school. This is only useful for students who are transferring, but being able to find all of this information in a single place instead of scouring different web pages is refreshing.
Financial Information
Most schools make these easily available online, but you can also find a full breakdown of the tuition expenses and other fees associated with attending a particular college in section G; they usually also link the net price calculator right there, for your convenience.
This section also includes info on whether or not fees will vary based on the year you’re in college, or the undergraduate institution you’re attending within a school. Section H, immediately following, then breaks down the school’s financial aid policies. This doesn’t just show you whether or not aid is given, but how much aid is given out in a particular year.
This information is not going to be of use to most students or in all circumstances, but if you need a piece of information and can’t find it anywhere else on a college’s website, know that it may be in the Common Data Set.
Note that you must find each Common Data Set individually on a college’s website, there is no good collection of all of them in one place.
Final Thoughts
College applications are increasingly competitive; this data shows the extent of that, and just how hard it is to get into some of the top ranked universities in the US. It also shows some of the nuances of how waitlists work, and just how variable the waitlist process can be between universities.
We hope that this has given you a good understanding of the current landscape of college admissions, and shown you some of the statistics that are often harder for students to access. We understand well how stressful the application process can be, but know that it’s easier with help. Just like a guide can help you through dense jungle, so too can a mentor help you on the admissions process. If you want to hear how we can help you with your college applications, schedule a free consultation today. We have a long experience helping students get into their top choice colleges, and are always happy to hear from you.
