Baylor acceptance rate and admissions statistics
Baylor admitted 23,459 of 44,924 first-year applicants in its 2025-26 Common Data Set, an official acceptance rate of 52.2%. Every number below comes from the college’s own Common Data Set, each year linked to its document; a figure the college leaves blank says “Not published”, and the notes at the foot of the page say where a total is the sum of rows the college printed.
What did admitted applicants have? How to get into Baylor counts the grades, scores and activities they posted.
Baylor acceptance rate by year
| CDS year | Applied | Admitted | Acceptance rate | Enrolled | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 44,924 | 23,459 | 52.2% | 3,552 | 15.1% |
| 2024-25 | 46,946 | 24,075 | 51.3% | 3,427 | 14.2% |
| 2023-24 | 39,767 | 20,268 | 51.0% | 3,317 | 16.4% |
Acceptance rate is admitted divided by applied; yield is enrolled divided by admitted. Both are computed by Aristo Scholars from the two counts printed beside them.
Early decision at Baylor
Baylor waitlist
Baylor SAT and ACT scores
What Baylor says matters in admission
In section C7 each college rates its own admission factors as Very Important, Important, Considered or Not Considered. These are the factors Baylor rated in the top two tiers.
- 2025-26
- Very important: Academic GPA, Standardized test scores
- Important: Rigor of secondary school record, Application essay
- 2024-25
- Very important: Academic GPA, Standardized test scores
- Important: Rigor of secondary school record, Application essay
- 2023-24
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA, Standardized test scores
- Important: Application essay
Baylor testing policy for students applying in 2026-27
Test optional, with no minimum GPA or SAT/ACT for admission. Applicants pick a testing plan on the application. Scores are required from homeschooled applicants (CLT, SAT or ACT), from applicants at narrative-transcript schools, from early graduates, and for some majors. Scores count toward merit scholarships. The CDS 2025-26 C8 marks SAT/ACT as 'not required but considered if submitted' for Fall 2027.
From Baylor’s admissions site, read 2026-11-05. Policies change; the college’s page is the authority.
How these numbers were read
The 2023-24 C21 lists an early decision plan but prints no counts.
Baylor acceptance rate questions
- What is the Baylor acceptance rate?
- Baylor's Common Data Set for 2025-26 reports 44,924 first-year applicants and 23,459 admitted, an acceptance rate of 52.2%. It was 51.3% in 2024-25 and 51.0% in 2023-24.
- What is the Baylor early decision acceptance rate?
- In 2025-26, 453 of 566 early decision applicants were admitted (80.0%), against 52.2% of all applicants. Early decision applicants are a different pool who commit to enroll, so the two rates are not a like-for-like comparison.
- What SAT scores do Baylor students have?
- In 2025-26, the middle half of enrolled first-year students who submitted the SAT scored 1190 to 1370, and ACT submitters scored 26 to 32. 47.0% of enrolled students submitted an SAT score.
- How many students get off the Baylor waitlist?
- In 2025-26, Baylor offered 3,832 applicants a place on the waitlist; 916 accepted one, and 19 were admitted from it.
- Does Baylor require the SAT or ACT for students applying in 2026-27?
- Test optional, with no minimum GPA or SAT/ACT for admission. Applicants pick a testing plan on the application. Scores are required from homeschooled applicants (CLT, SAT or ACT), from applicants at narrative-transcript schools, from early graduates, and for some majors. Scores count toward merit scholarships. The CDS 2025-26 C8 marks SAT/ACT as 'not required but considered if submitted' for Fall 2027.
Applying to Baylor?
An acceptance rate describes the whole pool, not one student. A Specialist can read your student’s file against what Baylor says it weighs.
Source: Baylor Common Data Set, sections C1, C2, C7, C9 and C21, each year linked above, read 2026-11-05. Aristo Scholars is not affiliated with Baylor. All official acceptance rates