Acceptance Rate and Admission Trends for U.S. colleges

Acceptance Rate Trends (2015-2025)

  • Overall Trend: The average acceptance rate has increased over the last decade, rising from 66.59% to 72.22%.
  • Current Admission (2025): The average acceptance rate is 72.22%, with 8,698,171 students accepted out of 14,743,393 total applicants.
  • Gender Split (2024-2025):
    • Men's acceptance rate: 70.99%
    • Women's acceptance rate: 73.30%

Admission Yield (Enrollment Rate) Changes

  • Overall Trend: The admission yield (the percentage of admitted students who actually enroll) has consistently decreased.
  • 10-Year Change: The yield dropped from 39.63% to 31.78%.
  • Gender Split (2024-2025):
    • Men's yield: 31.78%
    • Women's yield: 28.13%

Applicants, Admitted, and Enrolled Headcount Changes

  • Applicants: The number of applicants has shown a strong upward trend, increasing to 14,743,393 in 2025. This represents a 6.07% increase from the previous year.
  • Admitted Students: The number of admitted students also increased to 8,698,171.
  • Enrolled Students: The number of enrolled students reached 1,688,150 in 2024-2025.

Note: The acceptance rate is calculated as the number of admitted students divided by the number of applicants. The admission yield (enrollment rate) is calculated as the number of enrolled students divided by the number of admitted students.

Acceptance Rate Trends

The average acceptance rate over the last 10 years is 69.26% where the current academic year rate is 72.22% at U.S. colleges. By gender, men students' acceptance rate is 68.36% and women students' rate is 69.80%.

The following table and chart illustrate the acceptance rates changes at U.S. colleges over the past 11 years (2014-2025).

YearTotalMenWomen
2014-15 66.59% 65.65% 66.58%
2015-16 66.63%
0.04%
65.72%
0.06%
66.95%
0.37%
2016-17 66.15%
-0.48%
65.27%
-0.45%
66.58%
-0.37%
2017-18 67.16%
1.02%
66.36%
1.10%
67.36%
0.78%
2018-19 66.99%
-0.17%
66.62%
0.25%
67.23%
-0.13%
2019-20 68.33%
1.34%
67.67%
1.05%
68.64%
1.41%
2020-21 70.41%
2.07%
69.75%
2.09%
70.89%
2.26%
2021-22 72.56%
2.16%
71.16%
1.41%
73.54%
2.65%
2022-23 72.46%
-0.10%
71.54%
0.38%
73.47%
-0.07%
2023-24 72.39%
-0.07%
71.21%
-0.33%
73.30%
-0.17%
2024-25 72.22%
-0.17%
70.99%
-0.23%
73.30%
0.00%
Average 69.26% 68.36% 69.80%
U.S. colleges Acceptance Rate Changes Chart

Admission Yield (Enrollment Rate) Changes

The average admission yield of the last 12 years is 35.32% where the current academic year yield is 31.78%. The yield, also known as enrollment rate is the percentage of admitted students who finally enrolled. The following table and chart illustrate the changes in yield at U.S. colleges from 2014 to 2025.

YearTotalMenWomen
2014-15 39.63% 41.36% 36.56%
2015-16 38.79%
-0.84%
40.37%
-0.99%
35.52%
-1.04%
2016-17 37.22%
-1.57%
38.73%
-1.64%
34.36%
-1.16%
2017-18 36.75%
-0.47%
38.16%
-0.56%
33.81%
-0.55%
2018-19 36.32%
-0.42%
37.95%
-0.22%
33.09%
-0.73%
2019-20 35.15%
-1.18%
36.54%
-1.41%
32.00%
-1.08%
2020-21 33.74%
-1.40%
35.06%
-1.48%
29.92%
-2.08%
2021-22 33.32%
-0.42%
35.22%
0.17%
29.46%
-0.46%
2022-23 33.03%
-0.29%
34.55%
-0.67%
29.30%
-0.16%
2023-24 32.78%
-0.25%
34.02%
-0.54%
29.09%
-0.22%
2024-25 31.78%
-1.00%
32.84%
-1.17%
28.13%
-0.96%
Average 35.32% 36.80% 31.93%
U.S. colleges Yield (Enrollment Rate) Changes Chart

Applicants, Admitted, and Enrolled Headcount Changes

The average number of applicants is 11,632,234, the average number of admitted is 6,692,717, and the average number of enrolled students is 1,596,721 over the last 10 years.

The number of applicants to U.S. colleges increased by 6.07% (843,296 applicants) compared to last year.

The following table and chart show the changes of applicants, admitted, and enrolled headcount at U.S. colleges from 2014 to 2025.

YearApplicantsAdmittedEnrolled
2014-15 9,386,743 5,223,164 1,509,878
2015-16 9,778,156
4.17%
5,413,521
3.64%
1,540,268
2.01%
2016-17 10,281,955
5.15%
5,704,550
5.38%
1,554,752
0.94%
2017-18 10,542,165
2.53%
5,909,125
3.59%
1,583,178
1.83%
2018-19 11,147,404
5.74%
6,171,679
4.44%
1,609,800
1.68%
2019-20 11,391,902
2.19%
6,437,823
4.31%
1,600,632
-0.57%
2020-21 11,530,127
1.21%
6,993,559
8.63%
1,559,177
-2.59%
2021-22 12,144,674
5.33%
7,298,053
4.35%
1,606,060
3.01%
2022-23 13,107,957
7.93%
7,662,076
4.99%
1,638,850
2.04%
2023-24 13,900,097
6.04%
8,108,168
5.82%
1,673,185
2.10%
2024-25 14,743,393
6.07%
8,698,171
7.28%
1,688,150
0.89%
Average 11,632,234 6,692,717 1,596,721
U.S. colleges Applicants Trends Chart
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