Early Action and Early Decision vs. Regular Decision Admission Rates
Here’s a fact that may surprise you—college admissions offices will be sweating every bit as much as college applicants during this college application season. While anxiety-filled students are praying for acceptance into their first-choices schools, equally nervous admissions directors are trying desperately to ensure that they meet their enrollment targets in the spring. Amazingly, the majority of colleges fail to meet this goal and they are pining for strong candidates that are willing to commit to their school. This is why applying early decision, which is binding, can be a strategic advantage for applicants. Below you will find the ED acceptance rates and regular decision acceptance rates for some of the most prestigious schools in the United States. Where applicable, we included non-binding, early action admission rates as well.
*Data collected from 2021-22 Common Data Set (CDS) forms and institution websites, and indicates admission outcomes for students entering in Fall 2021, the most recent year for which data is made available.
Table updated October 2022
Institution ED Admission Rate EA Admission Rate Regular Admission Rate (Excluding EA/ED) Admission Rate (Freshman Overall)
Agnes Scott College 82% 70% 70%
Allegheny College 56% 91% 63% 75%
American University 87% 63% 64%
Amherst College 24% 8% 9%
Babson College 38% 32% 15% 25%
Bard College 89% 60% 60%
Barnard College 33% 8% 11%
Bates College 60% 14% 17%
Beloit College 85% 82% 67% 67%
Bennington College 41% 72% 55% 60%
Bentley University 70% 61% 61%
Binghamton University 61% 34% 44%
Boston College 39% 17% 19%
Boston University 33% 17% 19%
Bowdoin College 27% 7% 9%
Brandeis University 56% 39% 39%
Brown University 16% 4% 6%
Bryant University 84% 86% 60% 74%
Bryn Mawr College 57% 38% 39%
Bucknell University 55% 33% 35%
Butler University 88% 65% 81%
California Institute of Technology 4% 4% 4%
Carleton College 22% 17% 18%
Carnegie Mellon University 20% 13% 14%
Case Western Reserve University 36% 30% 30%
Centre College 88% 81% 76% 76%
Chapman University 48% 73% 52% 60%
Claremont McKenna College 29% 9% 11%
Colby College 42% 7% 9%
Colgate University 40% 15% 17%
College of Charleston 81% 86% 45% 66%
College of the Holy Cross 82% 41% 43%
College of William and Mary 49% 36% 37%
Colorado College 29% 17% 9% 14%
Colorado State University-Fort Collins 92% 84% 90%
Columbia University in the City of New York 10% 3% 4%
Connecticut College 52% 40% 41%
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art 24% 12% 13%
Cornell University 21% 7% 9%
Creighton University 82% 73% 78%
Dartmouth College 25% 4% 6%
Davidson College 44% 14% 18%
Denison University 43% 25% 26%
DePaul University 78% 62% 69%
DePauw University 67% 65% 65%
Dickinson College 69% 47% 48%
Drew University 98% 79% 80%
Drexel University 94% 97% 82% 83%
Duke University 25% 6% 8%
Earlham College 84% 69% 69%
Eckerd College 84% 54% 70%
Elon University 89% 78% 77% 78%
Emerson College 80% 56% 36% 36%
Emory University 26% 12% 13%
Fairfield University 87% 90% 31% 56%
Florida Southern College 86% 79% 55% 61%
Fordham University 68% 63% 55% 58%
Franklin and Marshall College 57% 36% 38%
Furman University 48% 84% 72% 71%
George Mason University 91% 92% 91%
George Washington University 66% 49% 50%
Georgetown University 11% 12% 12%
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus 24% 21% 21%
Gettysburg College 64% 56% 56%
Grinnell College 58% 8% 11%
Hamilton College 41% 12% 14%
Harvard University 14% 3% 5%
Harvey Mudd College 21% 9% 10%
Haverford College 43% 15% 18%
Hendrix College 68% 59% 68%
High Point University 84% 87% 62% 80%
Hobart William Smith Colleges 83% 67% 68%
Hofstra University 78% 56% 68%
Illinois Wesleyan University 79% 31% 45%
Ithaca College 95% 95% 67% 78%
James Madison University 81% 86% 86%
Johns Hopkins University 15% 6% 8%
Juniata College 89% 84% 68% 74%
Kalamazoo College 76% 84% 76% 80%
Kenyon College 62% 35% 37%
Lafayette College 53% 40% 41%
Lake Forest College 39% 72% 53% 64%
Lawrence University 80% 90% 62% 75%
Lehigh University 73% 47% 50%
Lewis & Clark College 86% 92% 79% 79%
Linfield College-McMinnville Campus 99% 75% 83%
Loyola Marymount University 33% 67% 31% 46%
Loyola University Maryland 92% 73% 84%
Macalester College 49% 58% 12% 27%
Marist College 79% 72% 60% 60%
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5% 4% 4%
Miami University-Oxford 95% 98% 70% 89%
Middlebury College 45% 11% 13%
Mount Holyoke College 54% 52% 52%
Muhlenberg College 81% 67% 68%
New College of Florida 86% 69% 73%
New York University Not Reported 13% 13%
North Carolina State University at Raleigh 53% 35% 47%
Northeastern University 51% 17% 18%
Northwestern University 24% 5% 7%
Oberlin College 44% 36% 34%
Occidental College 59% 37% 38%
Ohio State University-Main Campus 64% 42% 57%
Ohio University-Main Campus 98% 89% 89%
Ohio Wesleyan University 53% 87% 55% 68%
Pitzer College 47% 15% 18%
Pomona College 13% 6% 7%
Princeton University Not Reported 4% 4%
Providence College 87% 59% 54% 58%
Quinnipiac University 93% 95% 88% 88%
Ramapo College of New Jersey 80% 82% 57% 70%
Reed College 43% 31% 31%
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 70% 96% 55% 57%
Rhodes College 65% 61% 57% 57%
Rice University 18% 9% 9%
Rochester Institute of Technology 93% 70% 71%
Rollins College 47% 49% 49%
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 78% 73% 77%
Saint Johns University 92% 84% 89%
Santa Clara University 84% 83% 32% 54%
Sarah Lawrence College 65% 70% 49% 57%
Scripps College 51% 28% 30%
Skidmore College 53% 29% 31%
Smith College 61% 34% 37%
Soka University of America 30% 68% 53%
Southern Methodist University 55% 53% 53%
Southwestern University 56% 66% 40% 51%
Spelman College 50% 71% 39% 51%
St John's University-New York 100% 93% 80% 85%
St Lawrence University 81% 55% 57%
St Olaf College 48% 78% 32% 47%
St. John's College 86% 69% 43% 53%
St. John's College 70% 80% 53% 63%
St. Mary's College of Maryland 89% 89% 65% 77%
Stanford University Not Reported 4% 4%
Stetson University 79% 88% 99% 92%
Stevens Institute of Technology 58% 52% 53%
Stonehill College 88% 83% 67% 68%
SUNY at Albany 89% 60% 68%
SUNY College at Geneseo 66% 74% 74%
SUNY College at Oswego 86% 72% 80%
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry 68% 65% 65%
Swarthmore College 24% 6% 8%
Syracuse University 62% 59% 59%
Temple University 85% 62% 72%
Texas Christian University 53% 71% 31% 54%
The College of New Jersey 79% 61% 62%
The College of Wooster 70% 79% 40% 61%
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville 86% 57% 75%
The University of the South 72% 78% 40% 60%
Trinity College 60% 34% 36%
Trinity University 66% 68% 33% 34%
Tufts University Not Reported Not Reported 11%
Tulane University of Louisiana 31% 12% 8% 10%
Union College 61% 62% 37% 47%
University of Chicago Not Reported Not Reported Not Reported 6%
University of Colorado Boulder 91% 80% 80%
University of Denver 38% 91% 63% 63%
University of Maryland-College Park 60% 38% 52%
University of Massachusetts-Amherst 74% 66% 66%
University of Miami 65% 27% 27% 28%
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Not Reported Not Reported 20%
University of North Carolina at Asheville 77% 82% 82%
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 26% 10% 19%
University of North Carolina at Charlotte 88% 80% 80%
University of North Carolina Wilmington 75% 54% 68%
University of Notre Dame 24% 12% 15%
University of Pennsylvania 15% 4% 6%
University of Puget Sound 51% 93% 89% 88%
University of Rhode Island 91% 55% 76%
University of Richmond 56% 32% 21% 29%
University of Rochester 45% 40% 41%
University of San Francisco 60% 82% 67% 71%
University of Vermont 59% 74% 64%
University of Virginia-Main Campus 44% 22% 16% 21%
Ursinus College 89% 93% 83% 83%
Vanderbilt University 18% 6% 7%
Vassar College 40% 19% 20%
Villanova University 60% 20% 23% 25%
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 58% Not Reported Not Reported 56%
Wake Forest University Not Reported Not Reported 25%
Washington and Lee University 48% 16% 19%
Washington University in St Louis 29% 11% 13%
Wellesley College 39% 18% 20%
Wesleyan University 55% 17% 19%
Wheaton College (IL) 91% 80% 86%
Wheaton College (MA) 76% 90% 67% 77%
Whitman College 60% 59% 59%
Willamette University 76% 87% 73% 79%
Williams College 33% 7% 9%
Worcester Polytechnic Institute 77% 72% 33% 60%
Yale University 11% 4% 5%
Yeshiva University 47% 67% 67%
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