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US Admissions Statistics 2019

Guides / USA

A major difference between the USA and the UK is just how selective some of the most highly-ranked universities are. Add to this that some of them have very few places available anyway, and you can see how tough the competition is. With some of these universities only taking in 2000 students or fewer each year, the term ‘hyper-selective’ was never more apt.

Here is a selection of admissions statistics at universities which tend to be popular with international applicants:

  • Amherst: 11%

  • Barnard: 11%

  • Boston University: 18%

  • Bowdoin: 9%

  • Brown: 6.6%

  • Colby: 10%

  • Columbia: 5.1%

  • Cornell: 10.6%

  • Dartmouth: 7.9%

  • Duke: 7%

  • Emory: 15%

  • Georgia Tech: 19%

  • Hamilton: 16%

  • Harvard: 4.5%

  • Harvey Mudd: 13%

  • Johns Hopkins: 9%

  • Middlebury: 16%

  • MIT: 7%

  • NYU: 16%

  • University of Pennsylvania: 7.4%

  • Pitzer: 13%

  • Princeton: 6%

  • Rice: 9%

  • University of Southern California: 11%

  • Swarthmore: 9%

  • Vanderbilt: 6.3%

  • University of Virginia: 24%

  • Washington & Lee: 18%

  • Washington University St Louis: 14%

  • Williams: 12%

  • Yale: 5.9%

To put these into perspective, we have a range of US universities here which take 1 in 10, 1 in 15 or 1 in 20, of their applicants. The vast majority of these candidates would have been extraordinarily well qualified for these universities.

When the competition is this tough, it’s important that applicants understand how the US admissions systems work. If you have questions or would like a free consultation, please get in touch.

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