Admissions & selectivity
Amherst College Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at Amherst College?
Amherst College’s reported acceptance rate is 9.0%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 9.0%
Source: College Scorecard · Fall 2024 admissions. Acceptance rates can change from year to year; this figure does not predict the current or next admission cycle.
Source: Amherst College Common Data Set 2024-25, C1 · first-time, first-year students.
How to interpret the acceptance rate
Amherst College admits 9.0% of applicants, a rate far below the median of 75.7% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported 13,370 applicants and 1,193 admitted students for the fall entering class.
What SAT and ACT scores do enrolled Amherst College students report?
In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, Amherst College reported SAT scores for enrolled first-year students. The middle half of those who submitted scores landed between 1500 and 1560, based on the 39% who submitted them.
The ACT composite for the middle half of enrolled submitters ran from 33 to 35 among the 22% who submitted those scores. The ranges cover enrolled score submitters only, not the full entering class and not a required mark.
A prospective student can weigh their own SAT score against the 1500 to 1560 band. They can weigh their ACT score against the 33 to 35 band, using them as context rather than a cutoff.
Among enrolled first-year students with a reported class rank, 93% placed in the upper decile and 99% in the upper quartile.
The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at Amherst College. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.
39% of entering students submitted SAT scores
- 25th percentile
- 1500
- Median
- 1540
- 75th percentile
- 1560
CDS 2024-25 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.
22% of entering students submitted ACT scores
- 25th percentile
- 33
- Median
- 34
- 75th percentile
- 35
CDS 2024-25 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.
Source: Amherst College Common Data Set 2024-25, C9 · Enrolled first-time, first-year score submitters.
Who enrolls at Amherst College?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 19.8%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 6.1%
- First-year retention
- 97.3%
Retention source: College Scorecard; full-time first-year retention.
About these student measures
The entering-student group includes part-time entrants as well as other attendance patterns.
Amherst College enrolls 1,911 undergraduates. An estimated 6.1% arrive as transfers or part-time students, leaving most to enter as first-year students.
19.8% receive Pell Grants. That composition points to a student body built mainly from traditional first-year entrants rather than from students continuing coursework begun at other colleges.
In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported 638 degree-seeking transfer applicants, 55 admitted, and 31 enrolled.
97.3% of full-time bachelor's-seeking first-years at Amherst College return after the first year. That rate sits above the 74.2% median for comparable institutions (same type and size).
The six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort is 93.9%. That rate sits above the 54.9% median for comparable institutions (same type and size).
These figures describe cohorts who started as full-time students; part-time or transfer students are not included in the same counts. Enrolled students can expect that most peers who start full-time will continue past the first year and finish within six years.
Data & methodology
Sources and reporting periods: methodology.
Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.
Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.
Admission rates describe past applicants, not an individual’s chance of admission; confirm requirements and deadlines with the institution.
Figure notes link to sources and limitations. About College Azimuth.