Admissions & selectivity
Swarthmore College Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at Swarthmore College?
Swarthmore College’s reported acceptance rate is 7.5%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 7.5%
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.
How to interpret the acceptance rate
Swarthmore College admits 7.5% of applicants, a rate far below the median of 75.7% for comparable institutions (same type and size).
What SAT and ACT scores do enrolled Swarthmore College students report?
In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported that among enrolled first-year students who submitted SAT scores, the middle half scored between 1480 and 1550. The median was 1520.
These scores came from 40% of the entering class. For the 15% who submitted ACT scores, the middle half ranged from 33 to 35, with a median of 34.
The ranges describe enrolled students who chose to submit scores, not a minimum for admission. Among enrolled first-year students with a reported high-school class rank, 87% finished in the highest tenth of their class and 98% in the highest quarter.
Only 30% of the entering class reported a rank, so these shares describe a subset of the cohort.
The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at Swarthmore College. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.
40% of entering students submitted SAT scores
- 25th percentile
- 1480
- Median
- 1520
- 75th percentile
- 1550
CDS 2025-26 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.
15% of entering students submitted ACT scores
- 25th percentile
- 33
- Median
- 34
- 75th percentile
- 35
CDS 2025-26 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.
Source: Swarthmore College Common Data Set 2025-26, C9 · Enrolled first-time, first-year score submitters.
Who enrolls at Swarthmore College?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 19.5%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 0.0%
- First-year retention
- 94.0%
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.
19.5% of undergraduates at Swarthmore College receive Pell Grants, against total undergraduate enrollment of 1,613. An estimated 0.0% enter as transfers or part-time students, which means the entering class is composed almost entirely of first-time freshmen with little prior college experience elsewhere.
In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 421 degree-seeking transfer applicants, 42 admitted, and 19 enrolled. Those counts confirm the transfer path is narrow and the enrolled group is small.
Pell-eligible and transfer applicants should both check the cost calculator and review transfer requirements closely, since the admitted transfer group remains small.
Of full-time bachelor's-seeking first-year students, 94.0% return for a second year. The six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort is 92.3%.
In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported a retention rate of 98% for the first-time, full-time fall 2024 entering class. Both persistence and completion run well above the peer medians of 74.2% and 54.9% for comparable institutions. Enrolled students can expect a campus where most classmates stay and finish.
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.