1.  [College research](/)
2.  /
3.  [Grinnell College](/school/grinnell-college/)
4.  /
5.  Admissions & selectivity

Admissions & selectivity

Copy linkPrint brief

# Grinnell College Acceptance Rate & Admissions

Updated October 1, 2026

[Overview](/school/grinnell-college/)[Cost & aid](/school/grinnell-college/cost/)[Outcomes](/school/grinnell-college/outcomes/)Admissions[Majors](/school/grinnell-college/majors/)[Similar schools](/school/grinnell-college/similar/)

**On this page**+

## What is the acceptance rate at Grinnell College?

Grinnell College’s reported acceptance rate is 14.5%.

**Acceptance rate · Fall 2024**
14.5%

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.

First-year applicants and admitted students · CDS 2024-25

**Applicants**
9,758

**Admitted**
1,416

Source: Grinnell College Common Data Set 2024-25, C1 · first-time, first-year students.

How to interpret the acceptance rate

Grinnell College admits 14.5% 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 9,758 applicants and 1,416 admitted students for the fall entering class.

## What SAT and ACT scores do Grinnell College students report?

Among enrolled students who submitted scores, the middle 50% of SAT scores ranged from 1,410 to 1,540. For ACT submitters, the middle half fell between 31 and 34.

These ranges describe the enrolled students who provided scores, not a minimum for admission. An applicant can place their own results against the 1,410–1,540 SAT and 31–34 ACT bands as one point of context, not as a cutoff.

The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at Grinnell College. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.

SAT: approximate enrolled-student range

**Approximate lower endpoint**
1410

**Approximate upper endpoint**
1540

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.

ACT: enrolled-student score range

**25th percentile**
31

**75th percentile**
34

Enrolled students who submitted scores. This range is not an admission cutoff.

Figures cover fall 2024.

## Who enrolls at Grinnell College?

**Pell Grant recipients**
17.9%

**Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group**
1.8%

**First-year retention**
92.6%

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.

Grinnell College enrolls 1,729 undergraduates. 17.9% receive Pell Grants, and an estimated 1.8% arrive as transfers or part-time students, so nearly every student enters as a first-year.

The composition is a small, predominantly first-year class with a modest share of federal grant recipients. A Pell-eligible applicant should know that the campus is built around the four-year residential experience, and the transfer route is narrow.

Students who start at Grinnell College tend to stay and finish. The first-year retention rate is 92.6%, and the [six-year graduation rate](/analysis/what-the-graduation-rate-doesnt-count/) is 88.1%.

Both figures run well above the peer medians of 74.2% and 54.9% for comparable institutions. Pell Grant recipients complete at 90.8%, which is 2.7 percentage points above the rate for the entering cohort as a whole.

An enrolled student can expect a campus where most classmates persist, and where the completion figures are strong across the board.

## Data & methodology

Sources and reporting periods: [methodology](/methodology/).

Analysis and methodology by [Daniel Rogers](/about/#founder), 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](/about/).