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Admissions & selectivity

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# Merrimack College Acceptance Rate & Admissions

Updated October 1, 2026

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

**On this page**+

## What is the acceptance rate at Merrimack College?

Merrimack College’s reported acceptance rate is 70.0%.

**Acceptance rate · Fall 2024**
70.0%

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.

How to interpret the acceptance rate

For the reported entering class, Merrimack College admitted 70.0% of applicants, placing its rate below the median of 71.2% for comparable institutions (same type and size). That rate is the share of applicants offered admission within that year's pool, rather than a measure of any individual applicant's prospects.

The figure describes a past applicant pool and does not forecast an individual decision.

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

SAT and ACT ranges are not available for Merrimack College in the data shown here. Missing scores do not establish whether tests are required, optional or excluded from review.

Figures cover fall 2024.

## Who enrolls at Merrimack College?

**Pell Grant recipients**
15.6%

**Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group**
10.0%

**First-year retention**
79.3%

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.

Merrimack College enrolls 3,916 undergraduates across more than one route into a degree. Pell Grant recipients account for 15.6% of undergraduates, a measure of financial access, and an estimated 10.0% of the undergraduate body entered as transfers or part-time students.

The composition points to a campus that includes both students using federal grant aid and students continuing study begun elsewhere, rather than only first-time entrants.

Completion is the stronger of the two persistence measures at Merrimack College. Among first-time full-time entrants, the [six-year graduation rate](/analysis/what-the-graduation-rate-doesnt-count/) is 70.0%, compared with 68.8% at comparable institutions (same type and size), placing completion above that peer midpoint.

The return after the first year is less favorable: 79.3% of the full-time bachelor’s-seeking first-year cohort returns, below the comparable-institution median of 83.4%. Pell recipients’ six-year completion rate is 66.5%, below the overall rate by 3.5 percentage points.

Enrolled students can expect completion to compare favorably with peers, alongside a lower first-year return rate.

## 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/).