Yale Admissions, Admission to Yale, Yale Admission Information

Yale University is located in New Haven, Connecticut.

Founded in 1701, Yale College, with some of the most beautiful architecture in the world ranging from Gothic to Georgian to Colonial to Modern, has one gorgeous campus — and the Yale University admissions department maintains its standing as one of the most selective universities in the nation. There are approximately 5,300 undergraduates and another 6,000 graduate students at Yale.

With good town-gown relations, the town of New Haven, Connecticut (the self-proclaimed pizza capital of the world) has undergone some major renovations in the past decade. There are an abundance of fine restaurants, theatrical, musical and dance performances, food festivals, and street fairs. New Haven even has its own Little Italy. Equidistant to Boston and New York City (about 1.5 hours in either direction), Yale makes for an exciting weekend getaway.

Yale University is known, among other things, for its Residential Colleges.

Yale doesn’t have a core curriculum, but students must take three courses in four different academic areas including language and literature, social sciences, arts and humanities, and mathematics. With over sixty-five departments and programs to choose from, Yale boasts offering more than 2,000 undergraduate courses in disciplines such as computer sciences, engineering, humanities, mathematical, natural sciences, and social sciences. The shopping period during the first two weeks of classes allows students to sit in on classes and test them out before officially enrolling.

Yale’s twelve residential colleges make the university unique among the Ivy League colleges. These residential colleges are so significant to life at Yale that when one Yale alum meets another, one of the first questions they ask each other is to which residential college they belonged. The residential colleges have their own dorms, dining halls, libraries, movie theatres, studios, gyms, and courtyards, and they serve as the hub of cultural, athletic, and social life. When students join an intramural sports team, they play for their residential college. From football to Ultimate Frisbee, there are over 30 intramural sports at each college.

In the evenings, the dining halls convert to orchestra, band, or a cappella jam sessions, political debates, theatrical performances, or quiet poetry readings. The master and dean of each residential college are professors who live in that college, dine with students, and serve as advisors. Each college has its own Master’s Teas where invited guests are prominent figures from politics, academia, journalism, visual or performing arts, or from the business world. If you happen to be absent from class because of illness or a particular situation and need an extension on an assignment you get a note not from mommy or daddy but from your dean.

Notable Yale alumni have been United States presidents and vice presidents, premiers of foreign countries, governors, Supreme Court justices, ambassadors, senators, inventors, nobel laureates, Pulizer Prize winners, university presidents, pro athletes, entertainers, as well as those who made their mark in medicine, science research, art, and technology.

The overall Yale University admissions rate stood at 5.9% for the Class of 2023. A total of 36,843 students applied in both the Early Action and Regular Decision rounds. Yale University Admissions accepted 2,178 students for a targeted freshman class of 1,782 students.

Yale University Admissions Statistics

Yale University Overall Accept. Rate Regular Decision Accept. Rate Regular Decision Apps Accepted Regular Decision Apps Received Early Decision / Action Accept. Rate Percent of Class Filled by Early Apps Early Decision / Action Apps Received Early Decision / Action Apps Accepted Expected Number of Students to Enroll Total Apps Received Total Apps Accepted
2026 4.47% 3.17% 1,353 42,727 12.09% n/a* 7,288 881 1,554 50,015 2,234
2025 4.6% 3.4% 1,332 38,996 10.5% n/a# 7,939 837 1,554 46,935 2,169
2024 6.5% 5.1% 1,508 29,443 13.8% n/a* 5,777 796 1,554 35,220 2,304
2023 5.9% 4.5% 1,384 30,827 13.2% n/a* 6,016 794 1,554 36,843 2,178
2022 6.3% 4.7% 1,387 29,573 14.7% n/a* 5,733 842 1,782 35,306 2,229
2021 6.9% 5.0% 1,401 27,814 17.1% n/a* 5,086 871 1,550 32,900 2,272
2020 6.3% 4.4% 1,177 26,795 17.0% n/a* 4,669 795 1,360 31,455 1,972
2019 6.5% 4.7% 1,210 25,544 16.0% n/a* 4,693 753 1,360 30,237 1,963
2018 6.3% 4.6% 1,200 26,182 15.5% n/a* 4,750 735 1,360 30,932 1,935
2017 6.7% 5.3% 1,342 25,090 14.4% n/a* 4,520 649 1,350 29,610 1,991
2016 6.8% 5.3% 1,300 24,670 15.7% n/a* 4,304 675 1,355 28,974 1,975
2015 7.4% 5.7% 1,245 22,025 14.5% n/a* 5,257 761 1,310 27.282 2,006
2014 7.5% 5.9% 1,210 20,607 13.9% n/a* 5,262 730 1,310 25,869 1,940
2013 7.5% 5.2% 1,209 23,088 13.4% n/a* 5,557 742 1,310 26,000 1,951
2012 8.3% 5.6% 1,007 17,925 18.1% n/a* 4,888 885 1,320 22,813 1,892
2011 9.6% 7.3% 1,151 15,729 19.7% n/a* 3,594 709 1,340 19,323 1,860
2010 8.6% 6.5% 1,099 17,015 17.7% n/a* 4,084 724 1,310 21,099 1,823
2009 9.7% 7.6% 1,176 15,515 17.9% n/a* 3,933 704 1,310 19,448 1,880
2008 9.9% 8.2% 1,280 15,628 16.6% n/a* 4,046 670 1,300 19,674 1,950
2007 11.4% 9.6% 1,458 15,120 21.3% n/a* 2,611 557 1,295 17,731 2,015

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

n/a# = not applicable since an EA / ED policy was not in place