Admissions & selectivity
University of Massachusetts-Amherst Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at University of Massachusetts-Amherst?
University of Massachusetts-Amherst’s reported acceptance rate is 59.7%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 59.7%
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: University of Massachusetts-Amherst Common Data Set 2025-26, C1 · first-time, first-year students.
How to interpret the acceptance rate
The University of Massachusetts-Amherst admits 59.7% of applicants, a rate that sits well below the median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 53,117 applicants, 31,813 admitted students, and 5,315 enrolled first-year students.
What SAT and ACT scores do enrolled University of Massachusetts-Amherst students report?
In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported that enrolled first-year students who submitted SAT scores had a middle range of 1330 to 1480. Only 25% of the entering class submitted scores, so the range describes a narrow slice of the cohort.
Among enrolled students with a reported high-school class rank, 34% graduated in the highest tenth of their class and 71% in the highest quarter. Those shares rest on the portion of the entering class that reported a rank, not the whole group.
Keep in mind that the score range describes a quarter of the class. The class-rank shares describe the subset that reported a rank.
The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.
25% of entering students submitted SAT scores
- 25th percentile
- 1330
- Median
- 1410
- 75th percentile
- 1480
CDS 2025-26 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.
Source: University of Massachusetts-Amherst Common Data Set 2025-26, C9 · Enrolled first-time, first-year score submitters.
Who enrolls at University of Massachusetts-Amherst?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 19.9%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 18.1%
- First-year retention
- 91.9%
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.
The University of Massachusetts-Amherst enrolls 23,671 undergraduates, a population that includes 19.9% receiving Pell Grants and an estimated 18.1% arriving as transfers or part-time students. In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 53,117 first-year applicants, 31,813 admitted, and 5,315 enrolled.
For transfer students, it reported 3,622 applicants, 2,371 admitted, and 1,190 enrolled. The composition points to a campus where nearly one in five undergraduates uses federal grant aid and close to one in five did not start as a first-year student.
The transfer counts show a pathway that admits a large majority of applicants, which matters for anyone considering a move from a community college or another four-year school.
First-time students at University of Massachusetts-Amherst persist and graduate at rates that outpace comparable institutions, while Pell recipients finish below the overall rate. The first-year retention rate is 91.9%, which sits above the peer median of 83.1%, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size).
The six-year graduation rate stands at 83.3%, surpassing the peer median of 65.0%. In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported that the first-time, full-time fall 2024 entering class had a retention rate of 92%.
Pell Grant recipients finish at 64.4%, a rate that lags the overall six-year figure by 18.9 percentage points. Those who enroll should expect most first-year students to return and the overall cohort to graduate above the peer norm, while noting that Pell recipients complete less often.
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.