Acceptance Rates of Colleges at a Glance- Class of 2029
Introduction
The 2025 college admissions cycle has seen both record-breaking application numbers and historically low acceptance rates across top universities in the U.S. While some institutions experienced an increase in acceptance rates, others became even more selective. Let us look at what the figures say about these top universities.
Amherst received a record-high 15,818 applications and admitted 1,175 applicants, an acceptance rate of about 7%. Final enrollment statistics will be released in the fall.
Boston College has admitted its strongest and most selective class in University history, extending approximately 5,000 offers of admission from a pool of 39,681 applicants for an acceptance rate of 12.6 percent.
Boston University received 76,770 applications and admitted 9,059 high-achieving students.
Bowdin College received over 14,000 applications for the Class of 2029, the highest number in the College’s history.
Brown University received 42,765 applications and admitted 2,418 “exceptional” students, resulting in a low acceptance rate of 6%.
Bucknell received 11,521 applications, admitting 3,571 students. The university had an acceptance rate of 31%
Columbia College SEAS saw a slight increase in the acceptance rate for the class of 2029. It admitted 4.29 percent of applicants for the class of 2029, accepting 2,557 students from a pool of 59,616 applications.
Colgate University, a private liberal Arts college located in Hamilton, received 17,308 applications and had an admission rate of 17%, admitting 3,005 students.
Dartmouth– With applications dropping by nearly 11% from the previous year (28,230), the college had an acceptance rate of 6%, accepting 1,702 students..
Duke University– Admitted 1,250 students for the class of 2029. Duke received about 4,500 more applications than last year for a total of 58,698 applicants.
Emory– Emory University admitted 4327 students to the Class of 2029 through Regular Decision on March 26. These students join the 995 accepted through Early Decision I (ED1) and 336 accepted through Early Decision II (ED2). (The University has extended the test-optional policy to the Class of 2030.)
Fordham- Nearly 44,376 students applied to this university, and 54% of them were admitted, resulting in an admission rate of 54%
Georgetown University– The university admitted 917 of 8,254 early applicants. The university received 26,841 overall applications, and it admitted 3,267 students, which is a nearly 12% acceptance rate.
University of Georgia– Total Applicants received were approximately 47,860, and the accepted number for Fall 2025 is roughly 15,800. (9500 students accepted in the EA rounds and the remaining 6,400 in the RD rounds. The overall acceptance rate is 33%
Georgia Tech- Admitted 8,520 from an application base of 66,895, signalling an acceptance rate of 13%. Over 8100 early action applications were received this cycle, resulting in an overall admission rate of 33 percent.
MIT- This year, inclusive of both Early and Regular Action, 29,282 students applied to join the MIT Class of 2029, and currently 1,324 students have received acceptance, which indicates an acceptance rate of 5%.
Northwestern: For the Class of 2029, the admissions rate of NW has dipped to 7% from the previous year’s 7.6%. It received a pool of over 53,000 applicants. The incoming class is expected to be 21,00 students.
Notre Dame: With a record number of 35,401 REA and RD applicants, the University admitted 9% of those who applied.
NYU: Sent admission offers to just 7.7% of the more than 120,000 students who applied. making the Class of 2029 one of the most selective classes in NYU’s history.
Pomona: 861 admitted students were selected from the largest applicant pool in the College’s history. We do not have the exact number of applicants which will be released at a later date by the university.
Rice University: Having risen in its ranking, the university received 36,777 applications from which it accepted only 2,852 students, making it an acceptance rate of 7.8%
Swarthmore: Admits 965 to Class of 2029 out of 12,995 applicants. This indicates a low 7% acceptance rate.
Tufts: According to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, 10.5% of students were accepted to the upcoming fall session. The number of applications was around 33,400.
UConn– Nearly 62,000 applicants sought admission. UConn launched an early-decision process this year and received about 1,500 applications, and admission was offered to about 60% of them.
USC- It has admitted 8.5% of RD applicants. The university received a whopping 83,500 applications. 8,700 first-year students were admitted for Fall 2025 and about 2,200 for Spring 2026. Californian students comprise 39% of the fall admit pool.
Vanderbilt: The university received an exceptionally talented pool of over 48,000 applicants and admitted 2,304 students. Yet again, we see a low acceptance rate of 5%.
Virginia Tech– This public university received a record of 58,000 applications. The applicant pool includes 21,849 in-state applicants, 30,082 out-of-state applicants, and 5,691 international applicants.
Wellesley: Received just over 8,700 first-year applications. Overall, 13.7% of applicants (1,192) were offered admission to the College.
Yale: Admitted 4.59% of applicants. From a pool of 50,227, 943 students gained a spot in the coveted university.
Conclusion
The data from this year’s admissions cycle highlights the growing competition among top-tier universities, with record-high application numbers at many institutions. The admitted students continue to excel in their fields, providing robust examples of community involvement, global participation, artists, showcasing leadership qualities, and future changemakers, yet keeping academics at the fore. Ultimately, these figures reflect both the increasing demand for prestigious education and the evolving strategies of universities in shaping their incoming classes.
