If you think your child will thrive at a small school with Midwestern friendliness, then Carleton College might be the pick for them. You’re probably wondering: Do they have a shot at getting in? We’re going to answer that question and more but, first, let’s learn what separates Carleton from other schools. 

About Carleton College 

Carleton is located in Northfield, Minnesota, about 40 miles south of Minneapolis. It’s an undergraduate-only school with about 2,000 undergraduates: so, if a small campus sounds like your child’s cup of tea, then you can’t go wrong with Carleton. Carelton’s campus includes the 800-acre Cowling Arboretum, known affectionately to students as “The Arb.” It’s both an academic resource for students studying ecology and a beautiful recreation spot for all Carls to enjoy on the weekends. 

Carleton is on a trimester system with rigorous distribution requirements, meaning students will have breadth in their education even while they narrow in on their chosen major. And, since there are no graduate students to compete with, undergrads enjoy heaps of faculty attention and get to be on the frontlines of research. 

For the Carleton College Class of 2029, only 20% of applicants received admission. That makes it what we at Ivy Coach consider a competitive school to get into. 

Carleton College Admissions Requirements 

Unfortunately, there’s no formula for getting into Carleton, just as there’s no formula for getting into any selective school. (Trust us: our jobs would be so much easier if there were.) Obviously, a high GPA, great test scores, and stand-out extracurricular achievements are the bread, butter, and jam of all successful applications. But, even still, these three are considered within their context. If a student has a 4.0 but never took an AP class, they’re not necessarily going to fare better than a student with a 3.8 who took 4 AP classes. If a student wants to be a bioengineer but never got involved with a professional lab, that means one thing if they live in Boston or New York City, and another thing if they live in rural Kentucky or Alaska. 

What Kind of GPA Is Necessary To Get Into Carleton College?

The following is the class rank breakdown of Carleton’s Class of 2028 members, as reported in Carleton’s 2024-25 Common Data Set. Unfortunately, Carleton hasn’t reported any GPA data for recently admitted cohorts, so the class rank data below is the closest to gauging the GPA requirements for admission in Carleton’s competitive admissions process.

Assessment	Percentage of Carleton College Class of 2028
Percent in top tenth of high school graduating class	63%
Percent in top quarter of high school graduating class	93%
Percent in top half of high school graduating class	99%
Percent in bottom half of high school graduating class	1%
Percent of total first-time, first-year (freshman) students who submitted high school class rank:	29%

While we await the official data for the Classes of 2030 and 2029, it’s safe to assume that most of those who secure a spot at Carleton boast impressive academic records, often (though not always) with 4.0 GPAs. We at Ivy Coach would confidently speculate that all Carleton admits to the Class of 2029 had a GPA above 2.0, with approximately 90% exceeding 3.2.

However, Carleton also routinely rejects applicants with perfect grades, so we decline to answer parents who are overly enthusiastic and share their child’s GPA during complimentary consultations with Ivy Coach with the intention of ascertaining their child’s chances of getting into Carleton. Without context, including the high school attended, the rigor of the student’s coursework, their extracurriculars, essays, letters of recommendation, etc., your child’s GPA alone cannot determine their admissions odds (and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!).

Carleton considers several holistic criteria when splitting hairs between high achieving students, because there are, after all, plenty of dull students out there with perfect grades!

What Kind of SAT or ACT Scores Are Needed To Get Into Carleton College?  

The average SAT score for the Carleton College Class of 2028 was 1510, and the average ACT score was 34. Carleton is test-optional, but we at Ivy Coach believe that not submitting test scores can only ever hurt an applicant’s chances, even to supposedly test-optional schools. 

What Classes Do Students Need to Take to Get Into Carleton College?

Carleton lists the following academic preparation as a recommended baseline for successful applicants:

• Four years of English
• Four years of mathematics
• Three or more years of science
• Three or more years of social science
• Three or more years of foreign or classical language

We at Ivy Coach know that highly selective colleges like Carleton want to see students excelling in each core subject (English, history, math, science, and foreign language) all four years of high school. In fact, they expect to see five years for foreign language since most students begin their first level of foreign language in eighth grade.

What Kinds of Extracurriculars Does Carleton College Like To See?

We’re going to play MythBusters for a moment: highly selective colleges are not looking for well-rounded students. That is an urban legend, a false prophet! What schools are looking for are well-rounded student bodies comprised of uniquely talented students, each contributing some different achievement to the greater whole. 

Think about it for a second: a “well-rounded” student plays on the football team, is part of the ensemble in the school musical, contributes a couple of hours to the robotics team, and is a member of Model UN. But their time, energy, and attention are spread so thin between these endeavors that they’re always benched during games because they never can catch the ball, they’re put in the back during dance numbers because they don’t have the time to rehearse at home like the other thespians do, they have no idea how to actually build a robot, and they show up to Model UN conferences unprepared because they were too busy being mediocre at all their other activities to excel at this one. 

Now think of the singularly talented kid: they’re so deft with diplomacy, have practiced and researched for so many hundreds of hours, that they get to represent the United States or the United Kingdom at every Model UN conference they go to, and they win “Best Delegate” awards at these conferences. They’ve even been invited to speak at the actual UN. Maybe they take theatre classes on the side, but this is only in service of furthering their elocution skills within the context of diplomacy, learning how to project every word and enunciate every consonant, as any good public speaker does. 

Which student would you admit? The one who is a member of a bunch of unrelated activities, or the one who’s got the background and know-how to become a real-world diplomat one day, the same one you can, in years from now, invite to be Commencement Speaker?

We rest our case. 

Carleton College Application Requirements

Carleton College accepts the Common App and Coalition App. They ask for one letter of recommendation from a counselor, and two letters from teachers. Finally, they ask applicants to respond to the following two questions: 

• Think about someone you connect with who’s different from you. What do you find most meaningful about your interactions with them? (300 word limit)
• Anything missing? Do you want to share more with us? If so, use this space to fill any gaps you think would assist us in reviewing your application. (Optional, no more than 250 words)

Who Should Students Ask For Letters of Recommendation For Carleton College? 

Carleton applicants should ask two junior year teachers in core subjects. Obviously, the applicant should have a good relationship with the teacher or at least have performed well in their class. In addition, at least one of the recommender’s subject area should be related to the student’s hook: if a student’s singular hook is studying fruit fly DNA, it wouldn’t make sense if their recommenders were their History and English teachers. 

Does Carleton College Require an Interview? 

They don’t require one, but they offer one! Pro tip: take them up on that offer.

What Are Carleton College’s Application Deadlines? 

Early Action and Early Decision I applications to Carleton are due November 15. Regular Decision and Early Decision II applications are due January 15.  

How Ivy Coach Helps Students Get Into Carleton College

If you’re interested in discerning if your child has a shot of getting into Carleton College, we recommend setting up Ivy Coach’s Strategy Session. Not only will you find out if your child has a chance of getting into Carleton College, but you’ll receive a game plan of how your child can optimize their admission to the best school possible.