Admissions & selectivity
Carleton College Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at Carleton College?
Carleton College’s reported acceptance rate is 20.4%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 20.4%
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.
How to interpret the acceptance rate
Carleton College admits 20.4% of applicants, a rate that sits well below the median of 71.2% for comparable institutions (same type and size). The gap means that most applicants do not receive an offer of admission.
What SAT and ACT scores do Carleton College students report?
The middle half of enrolled students who submitted SAT scores scored between 1,450 and 1,560. For those who submitted ACT scores, the middle half ranged from 32 to 34.
These figures describe the twenty-fifth and seventy-fifth percentiles of recent score submitters, not a cutoff or a minimum for admission. An applicant comparing their own results to Carleton's profile should look at the 1,450 to 1,560 SAT range.
They should also look at the 32 to 34 ACT range. These ranges show where enrolled submitters landed, not a threshold.
The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at Carleton College. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.
- Approximate lower endpoint
- 1450
- Approximate upper endpoint
- 1560
Enrolled students who submitted scores. This range is not an admission cutoff. The endpoints add section percentiles; they are not verified composite-score percentiles. A separate SAT-equivalent average is not plotted as a median. Source: College Scorecard; sum of section 25th/75th percentiles; enrolled score-submitters.
- 25th percentile
- 32
- 75th percentile
- 34
Enrolled students who submitted scores. This range is not an admission cutoff.
Figures cover fall 2024.
Who enrolls at Carleton College?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 16.5%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 1.5%
- First-year retention
- 96.5%
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.
Carleton College enrolls 2,086 undergraduates in Northfield, Minnesota, on a small campus. An estimated 1.5% arrive as transfers or part-time students, so the entering class is overwhelmingly first-year students.
16.5% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants. That share coincides with a student body drawn largely through traditional first-year admission, with transfer pathways playing only a minor role.
The enrollment picture is one of a small college built almost entirely around a single entry point.
At Carleton College, the first-year retention rate is 96.5%, and the six-year graduation rate is 89.6%. Both figures sit above the medians for comparable institutions, which are 83.4% for retention and 68.8% for completion.
The gap between the university's rates and the peer medians is wide. An enrolled student can expect a campus where nearly everyone returns for a second year and the large majority graduates on time.
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.