Admissions & selectivity
Yale University Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at Yale University?
Yale University’s reported acceptance rate is 3.9%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 3.9%
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: Yale University Common Data Set 2025-26, C1 · first-time, first-year students.
How to interpret the acceptance rate
Yale University admits 3.9% of applicants, the median of 71.2% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 50,264 applicants, 2,387 admitted, and 1,633 enrolled.
What SAT and ACT scores do enrolled Yale University students report?
In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported that enrolled first-year students who submitted SAT scores had a middle-half range of 1470 to 1560. 71% of the entering class submitted SAT scores.
Among the 27% who submitted ACT scores, the middle half ranged from 33 to 35. These ranges describe the scores of enrolled students who provided them, not admission cutoffs.
Among enrolled first-year students with a reported class rank, 97% graduated in the top tenth of their high school class. A class rank was reported for a portion of the entering class, so the figure reflects those who submitted a rank rather than the whole cohort.
The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at Yale University. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.
71% of entering students submitted SAT scores
- 25th percentile
- 1470
- Median
- 1530
- 75th percentile
- 1560
CDS 2025-26 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.
27% 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: Yale University Common Data Set 2025-26, C9 · Enrolled first-time, first-year score submitters.
Who enrolls at Yale University?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 20.4%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 1.5%
- First-year retention
- 98.8%
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.
Yale University enrolls 6,758 undergraduates. 20.4% of them receive Pell Grants, and an estimated 1.5% enter as transfers or part-time students.
The student body is overwhelmingly composed of students who began here as first-year entrants. In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 50,264 first-year applicants, 2,387 admitted, and 1,633 enrolled.
For transfer students, it reported 1,747 applicants, 45 admitted, and 35 enrolled. Applicants who are Pell-eligible should use the cost calculator to estimate their own grant-adjusted price, as the net price for the lowest income band can be deeply discounted.
Yale University retains 98.8% of its first-year bachelor's-seeking students, a level that sits well above the peer median of 83.4% for comparable institutions. For the first-time full-time cohort, the six-year graduation rate is 95.7%, which likewise stands above the peer median of 68.8%.
These outcomes reflect the experience of the university's undergraduate body of 6,758 students. Enrolled students can expect an environment where nearly all first-year students return for a second year and the overwhelming majority complete a bachelor's degree within six years.
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.