2020 Ivy League Admissions Statistics

Ivy League Colleges	Overall Accept. Rate	Regular Decision Accept. Rate	Regular Decision Apps Accepted	Regular Decision Apps Received	Early Decision / Action Accept. Rate	% of Class Filled by Early Apps	Early Decision / Action Apps Rcvd	Early Decision / Action Apps Accepted	Expected Number of Students to Enroll	Total Apps Received	Total Apps Accepted
Brown	9.0%	7.66%	2,250	29,360	22.1%	40.2%	3,030	669	1,665	32,390	2,919
Columbia	6.0%	4.8%	1,572	32,772	17.6%	44.6%	3,520	621	1,390	36,292	2,193
Cornell	14.1%	12.5%	4,997	40,083	27.4%	40.9%	4,882	1,340	3,275	44,966	6,337
Dartmouth	10.5%	9.0%	1,682	18,748	25.6%	44.1%	1,927	494	1,120	20,675	2,176
Harvard	5.2%	3.4%	1,119	32,868	14.9%	n/a*	6,173	918	1,660	39,041	2,037
Penn	9.4%	7.0%	2,329	33,156	23.2%	54.6%	5,762	1,335	2,445	38,918	3,661
Princeton	6.5%	4.7%	1,177	25,074	18.6%	n/a*	4,229	785	1,308	29,303	1,894
Yale	6.3%	4.4%	1,177	26,795	17.0%	n/a*	4,669	795	1,360	31,455	1,972

* n/a = not applicable since an Early Action policy was in place

The graph below of the 2020 Ivy League admissions statistics shows a comparison between the Early Decision / Early Action acceptance rates and the Regular Decision acceptance rates:

Brown University

Out of a total of 32,390 applications, the largest applicant pool in the long and storied history of Brown University, the school with the famously open curriculum accepted 2,919 applicants for the Class of 2020. By our arithmetic and long division, this accounts for an overall admit rate of 9%. And what was the second largest applicant pool in Brown’s history, you ask? That was in 2011 (for the Class of 2015) when Brown received a total of 30,946 applications. so for those folks who believe applications go up each and every year without exception, know that’s not the case exactly. It’s just an overall trend. Anyhow, we digress.

Because Brown admitted 339 more students this year than for the Class of 2019, the overall admit rate was .5% higher than it was last year. Last year’s 8.5% overall admit rate was the lowest in Brown’s history. But, hey, records can’t be broken every year. After all, Michael Phelps saves his very best for every four years. Tokyo anyone?

Of these applicants to Brown, a total of 2,250 were accepted in the Regular Decision round, making Brown’s Regular Decision acceptance rate 7.66%, an increase of .46 percent from the previous year. An additional 1,000 students were put in limbo on the university’s waitlist.

In the Early Decision round, 3,030 candidates (the second largest Early Decision applicant pool in Brown’s history) applied to Brown and 669 earned admission. This marked an Early Decision admit rate of 22.1%. Another 1,905 students were deferred by the university and 456 were denied. So do Early applicants actually get denied? They sure do. Is it more common to get deferred? You bet and it doesn’t take a Ph.D. in mathematics to come to this conclusion. Of the students deferred, about 7% were accepted in the Regular Decision cycle. We always say that, across the board of highly selective colleges, deferred students have about a 10% chance of getting in. We were off by 3% for Brown this year. Sincere apologies.

The Class of 2019 had an Early Decision acceptance rate of 20%, markedly higher (as always) from the Regular Decision admit rate. The numbers tell the truth. Is there an advantage to applying Early? You’d be foolish to believe otherwise. With a targeted freshman class of 1,665 (60 more freshman than the previous year at Brown), Early Decision applicants filled 40.2%. So how tough is it to get into a school like Brown in the Regular Decision round? Well, consider that they’ve only got 59.8% of their class left to fill.

Highlights of Brown University’s Class of 2020

Of the 2,447 applicants to Brown University’s most prestigious 8-year Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME), a total of 90 students earned admission, marking a 3.7% admit rate to this program. Seventeen students were admitted in the Early Decision round to PLME, a 6.7% admit rate. Brown hopes to enroll approximately 60 PLME students for the Class of 2020.

And if you’re wondering what we at Ivy Coach think of BSMD programs, well, we think it makes it a whole lot tougher to get into a top school like Brown if you apply to such a program. We’ve got lots of other reasons why students shouldn’t target these kinds of programs but we’ll save that for another day. After all, we write about college admissions every day on our blog. We need to save things to talk about. It’s like going on a first date after having already gotten answers to a series of questions on Tinder like, “What do you do,” “How many siblings do you have,” “Where are you from,” etc. You get the idea. Hey, Ivy League admissions statistics can be a bit dry. We’ve got to try to spice things up. How we digress.

Out of the 558 applicants to Brown’s other flagship program (Brown-RISD Dual Degree Program), 15 students were admitted at a 2.7% admit rate. Based on our calculus, this means that 97.3% of students didn’t earn admission. Are we discussing Donald Trump’s (2.7%) polling numbers or are we still discussing the Brown-RISD Dual Degree Program? We kid, we kid. Or do we?

Brown University’s Class of 2020 hails from all 50 states (yes, even Idaho, Nebraska, Alaska, and Montana). States that were most represented, however, were not New Mexico, Kentucky, and Tennessee but rather California, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Texas. Shocking, we know. With a record-breaking number of international applicants to Brown, or Americans living abroad, 5,432 students applied from 83 different countries. Foreign countries that were most represented were China, the United Kingdom, Canada, Korea, and India. Again, we know we’ve sent shockwaves to your system with this list of well represented countries.

A total of 47% of admitted students identified themselves as students of color, which again made for a record. We like records. Apparently, so too does Simon Biles. Admitted students came from a total of 1,840 high schools. That’s a whole lot of high school, wouldn’t you say? 59% attended public high schools, while 41% went to private schools. So if you think you need to attend a fancy private school to get into Brown, check out those numbers one or two more times. 95% of the Class of 2020 are in the top 10% of their high school classes. So they’re all big time slackers.

Read the complete articles on Brown University’s admissions statistics for the Class of 2020. And we know you want to read even more about Brown’s Class of 2020. Who doesn’t?

Columbia University

For Columbia’s Class of 2020, including both Columbia College and The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, a total of 2,193 students were admitted out of an applicant pool of 36,292. This marked the largest applicant pool ever for Columbia. Ever. Did we say ever? This led to a a 6.0% acceptance rate, marking the lowest acceptance rate in Columbia’s history, a history that includes Lou Gehrig and President Dwight D. Eisenhower. “I like Ike.” In the Regular Decision round at Columbia, 32,772 students applied and 1,572 earned admission. So, to recap, the overall admission rate to Columbia was 6.0% (including the Early Decision round) but there was only a 4.8% admission rate in the Regular Decision round. So is it tough to get into Columbia in the Regular Decision round? Asked and answered.

In the Early Decision round, Columbia University received another record breaking 3,520 applications to both Columbia College and SEAS. Of those who applied Early Decision, 621 students were accepted, leading to an Early Decision admit rate of 17.6%. So is it easier to get into a school like Columbia in the Early round as compared to in the Regular round? You do the math. But last we checked, 17.6% sounds a whole lot better than 4.8%, right? For a targeted class of 1,390, Early Decision candidates filled the Class of 2020 at Columbia by 44.6%. By our intense calculations, that means that only 55.4% of the class was still open by the time Regular Decision applicants applied. So if a student really loves Columbia and has a reasonable shot of getting in, why not apply Early Decision? Bueller? Bueller?

Highlights of Columbia University’s Class of 2020

The admitted Class of 2020 hail from all 50 states and 85 nations. Highly selective colleges love to brag that they have students coming from each and every one of our fifty nifty United States from 13 original colonies. Shout ’em, scout ’em, tell all about ’em. Ok, we got carried away there. But, yes, Columbia has students from South Dakota just as they have students from New York, although they have quite a bit more students hailing from New York. Obviously. In addition, 16% of students for the Class of 2020 will be the first in their families to attend college — a coveted group of young people. 16% of students will also be receiving Pell Grants. 28% identify as Asian or Asian American, 15% as Latino, 13% as African American, 3% as Native American, and 40% as White.

If you haven’t gotten your fix on Columbia University’s admissions statistics for the Columbia Class of 2020, good thing we’ve supplied some pertinent articles for your reading pleasure.

Cornell University

With a total record breaking 44,966 applications, Cornell University sent out acceptance letters to 6,337 in both the Early Decision and Regular Decision rounds. This resulted in an overall admit rate for Cornell University of 14.1%. In the Regular Decision cycle, 40,083 candidates applied and 4,997 earned admission, resulting in a 12.5% Regular Decision admit rate. An additional 4,572 applicants were placed on the waitlist, stuck in limbo. But limbo beats rejection, right? Or does it not?

In Cornell’s Early Decision round, 4,882 students applied and 1,340 were offered admission, leading to an admit rate of 27.4%. Another 23.6% of applicants were deferred into the Regular Decision pool. With an expected class size of 3,275 freshmen (85 more students than for the Class of 2019 – whoot, whoot!), students admitted in the Early Decision round to Cornell University filled the class by 40.9 percent. So only 59.1% of the class was still open come the time those Regular Decision applicants submitted their applications at the top of 2016.

We should also note that about another 60 freshman will ultimately enroll at Cornell in January 2017 in the First-Year Spring Admission program. This program was initiated during the 2014-2015 admissions cycle. The accepted students to the Spring Admissions program will enroll in either the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) or the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS).

Highlights of Cornell University’s Class of 2020

We’ve got a shocker coming: Cornell’s Class of 2020 hails from all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia. Ok, maybe we exaggerated a bit since this should come as no surprise to anyone reading about Cornell’s admissions stats. The Class of 2020 at Cornell also hails from Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (the homeland of one Tim Duncan, who happened to be a remarkable swimmer before he became a basketball icon). International students, including Americans living overseas, account for more than 10% of the admitted students hailing from a total of 85 nations. In terms of citizenship, the admitted class represents 104 different nations.

49% of admitted students, and yes this includes Asians and Asian Americans, identified themselves as students of color. And a total of 1,718 admitted students, or 27% of them, identified themselves as under-represented minorities (a.k.a. URMs). About 700 of the admitted students to Cornell are considered first-generation, the first in their families to attend college. We always think that’s very cool. And another 22.8% of admitted students are Cornell legacies. That is definitely not as cool. No way.

But we know you just can’t get enough reading about Cornell’s admissions stats for the Big Red Class of 2020 so do peruse these articles, too. “Just can’t get enough, just can’t get enough…”

Dartmouth College

For the Class of 2020, Dartmouth College offered admission to a total of 2,176 students out of an applicant pool of 20,675. This marks an overall admit rate of 10.5% for the college founded by Eleazar Wheelock to educate Native Americans. In the Regular Decision cycle, 18,748 students applied and 1,682 were admitted. Our algebra indicates this marks an admit rate of 9%. How’s our math?

In the Early Decision round, a record-breaking 1,927 students applied and 494 were accepted at an acceptance rate of 25.6%. Does it help to apply Early Decision to Dartmouth? You bet it does. Note this is a recurring theme for us when we write about Ivy League admissions statistics. It’s not only at Dartmouth. With a targeted class of 1,120, Dartmouth’s admitted students in the Early Decision round filled the class by 44.1%. So only 55.9% of the class was still open when those Regular Decision applicants even applied. That’s like trying to get into Disneyland on July 4th. It’s tough! Ok, maybe not the best of analogies. Deal with it.

Highlights of Dartmouth College’s Class of 2020

A record breaking (notice another theme?) 51% of admitted students to Dartmouth identify themselves as students of color, which of course also includes Asians and Asian Americans. We’re not sure why we have to specify that but every other news source seems to so we’ll go along with it. Perhaps we should buck that trend. Next time. 23% of the admitted students to the College on the Hill identified themselves as under-represented minorities or URMs, which is admission slang for same. In other news, 14% of admitted students are considered first generation students, the first in their families to go to college (super cool). And a different 14% are the sons and daughters of Dartmouth College alumni (not as cool at all). Oh and 10% of the admitted students for Dartmouth’s Class of 2020 are recruited athletes, most of whom applied Early Decision. Through the Posse Veterans Program, Dartmouth, whose former president, James Wright, helped spearhead the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill, will admit 10 United States veterans. We at Ivy Coach salute Dartmouth for admitting these veterans in particular.

92% of admitted students at Dartmouth are ranked in the top 10% of their high school classes. And these students have a mean SAT critical reading score of 719, a mean math score of 724, and a mean writing score of 723 (on the old SAT) or they have a mean ACT score of 32.2. The most common academic interests among admitted students to Dartmouth for the Class of 2020 are engineering, biology, and economics.

Compared to the Class of 2019, more students from public high schools and fewer students from private high schools were admitted this admissions cycle. For the Class of 2020, 25.4% attended private high schools while 63%t attended public high schools. This data is a far cry from many decades ago at Dartmouth, when so many students hailed from prep schools across New England in particular. While members of the Class of 2020 will live in housing assigned only to freshmen, as sophomores, juniors, and seniors, the Class of 2020 will be the first class assigned to the new residential house communities, an important part of Dartmouth College President Philip J. Hanlon’s “Moving Dartmouth Forward Plan.” These students will surely need housing because it’s quite cold up there. They can’t pitch tents on the Green in the middle of winter. That’d be nuts. But we digress again.

While you’re here, read the complete articles on Dartmouth College’s admissions statistics for the Class of 2020 in Hanover.

Harvard College

Just as Katie Ledecky keeps rewriting swimming’s record books, Harvard, the alma mater of her brother, father, and uncle set a record in admission this year. For an expected class of 1,660 freshmen, Harvard College received a record breaking total of 39,041 applications. And how many of these students did Harvard choose to accept? A mere 2,037 students, leading to an overall acceptance rate of 5.2%, another new record for the university.

In the Regular Decision round, 32,868 students applied to Harvard College and 1,119 earned admission. This marks a 3.4% admit rate (or a 96.6% rejection rate if your glass is half empty!). In the Single Choice Early Action round back in December 2015, 6,173 students applied for admission to Harvard and 918 were admitted, marking a 14.9% admit rate. So were your odds better this year (and every single year) in the Early or Regular round? You do the math. In the SCEA round, an additional 4,673 students were deferred to the Regular Decision pool and 464 were rejected outright. Other applications were either incomplete or withdrawn. Maybe they just gave up. Who knows.

Highlights of Harvard College’s Class of 2020

Harvard’s incoming class is a little over 48% percent female, which by our calculations indicate that a little less than 52% of the class is male. The percentage of first generation students in their families to attend college is 10.1%. Very cool. A whopping 51.4% of the Class of 2020 identified themselves as students of color with 22.1% Asians or Asian Americans, 14% Africans or African Americans, 12.7% Latino, 2.2% Native Americans, and 0.4% Native Hawaiian.

Read the complete articles on Harvard College’s admissions statistics for the Harvard Class of 2020 if you so wish.

University of Pennsylvania

Records are shattering at Ben Franklin’s school, too, with lots and lots of applications and lower and lower acceptance rates. Ben would be proud. Or would he? A total of 38,918 students applied for admission to the University of Pennsylvania’s Class of 2020 and 3,661 earned admission, marking an overall acceptance rate of 9.4%. For the Class of 2019 at UPenn, 37,267 students applied and 3,697 were accepted, marking an admit rate of 9.9%. So it dropped by half a percentage this year — that’s significant indeed.

In this year’s Regular Decision round, 33,156 students applied for admission and 2,329 were accepted at a 7.0% admit rate. In the Early Decision cycle, 5,762 students applied and 1,332 were accepted, marking a 23.1% Early Decision acceptance rate. For a targeted class of 2,445, the Early Decision admits filled the Class of 2020 by 54.5%. Last year’s figure was 54.4% — so more or less the same. Do you think the University of Pennsylvania loves their Early Decision applicants? The data indicates they sure do!

Highlights of the University of Pennsylvania’s Class of 2020

The University of Pennsylvania’s admitted Class of 2020 is represented by all 50 states. And let’s not forget students from the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico are represented too. The state with the most admitted students is, of course, Pennsylvania. Ben would be proud indeed. And one third of those Pennsylvanians are from Philadelphia. Ben just can’t stop smiling. New York and California had the second and third most applicants to UPenn, respectively. International students to the university for this year’s class hail from 88 nations around the world. That’s a whole lot of countries. We’re not sure we can name 88 countries But we can try?

A total of 48% of the Class of 2020 identified themselves as students of color. 13% of the Class of 2020 are the first in their families to receive college educations. And 14% of the Class of 2020 are legacies. That one’s always less impressive but it is what it is! For now.

Read the full articles on the University of Pennsylvania’s admissions statistics for the UPenn Class of 2020.

Princeton University

Breaking all previous records in all notable categories in terms of numbers and percentages (much like LeBron), a total of 1,894 students were admitted to Princeton University for the Class of 2020. Out of an applicant pool of 29,303 candidates, this yielded a 6.5% admit rate. In the Regular Decision round, Princeton received 25,074 applications and accepted 1,177 candidates, marking a 4.7% admit rate. An additional 1,237 applicants were waitlisted. And in the Single Choice Early Action round, Princeton received 4,229 applications and accepted 785 applicants, marking an 18.6% acceptance rate. So, yes, Early Action trumps Regular Decision yet again. Also of note, the expected size of Princeton’s Class of 2020 is 1,308.

Highlights of Princeton University’s Class of 2020

Princeton’s admitted class hails from 49 states and 66 nations (ouch, the Tigers came oh so close to securing students from all 50 states…what happened?). 63% of those students admitted attended public schools, 17.5% are first generation college students (very nice!), 50.6% identified themselves as students of color (cool!), 11.9% are recruited athletes, and 11.2% are legacies.

Read the complete articles on Princeton University’s admissions statistics for the Princeton Class of 2020.

Yale University

Yale University has offered admission to a total 1,972 candidates out of a combined applicant pool (between the Single Choice Early Action and the Regular Decision rounds) of 31,455. This figure marks an increase of 1,218 applications compared with the Class of 2019. That’s a whole lot more applications to Yale! This yielded an overall admit rate of 6.3% at the university, which is actually equivalent to the admit rate for the Class of 2018.

In the Regular Decision cycle, 26,795 students applied to Yale and of those aspiring Bulldogs, 1,177 were admitted – coincidentally the same exact number that were admitted via Regular Decision to Princeton. We’re such admissions statistics nerds. Whatever, we’ll own it. The Regular Decision round at Yale saw a 4.4% admit rate…meaning that 95.6% of applicants to Yale didn’t get in during this round. That’s rather dreary if you ask us! An additional 1,095 applicants were waitlisted, placed into limbo. Can you do the limbo? We saw Katie Ledecky trying it in Rio. The world’s greatest female swimmer just keeps popping up, even though she’s headed to Stanford in the fall — and not Yale or Harvard.

In the Single Choice Early Action cycle, 795 candidates were admitted to Yale out of an applicant pool of 4,669. Of those 4,669 applicants, 53% were deferred and 29% were rejected outright. Other applications were either incomplete or withdrawn. Maybe they fell asleep. This year’s targeted class is 1,360 but because Yale will be opening up two new residential colleges to go along with the existing twelve in the fall of 2017, they will be accepting 200 more students for the Class of 2021 and beyond. So that’s good news, right? More slots is always a good thing.

Highlights of Yale University’s Class of 2020

The admitted students hail from all 50 states and 63 countries and they attended more than 1,350 high schools from across the globe. It’s certainly a whole lot of high schools and while Princeton and Yale shared the same number of students admitted via Regular Decision, they did secure that last state. They found someone with a pulse in all fifty states…kudos to Yale!

Read the complete articles on Yale University’s admissions statistics for the Yale Class of 2020.