What is the Grinnell acceptance rate?

Grinnell's Common Data Set for 2024-25 reports 9,758 first-year applicants and 1,416 admitted, an acceptance rate of 14.5%. It was 10.8% in 2022-23.

What is the Grinnell early decision acceptance rate?

In 2024-25, 283 of 828 early decision applicants were admitted (34.2%), against 14.5% 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 Grinnell students have?

In 2024-25, the middle half of enrolled first-year students who submitted the SAT scored 1430 to 1520, and ACT submitters scored 31 to 34. 29.0% of enrolled students submitted an SAT score.

How many students get off the Grinnell waitlist?

In 2024-25, Grinnell offered 2,021 applicants a place on the waitlist; 1,180 accepted one, and 36 were admitted from it.

Official acceptance rates

Grinnell acceptance rate and admissions statistics

Grinnell admitted 1,416 of 9,758 first-year applicants in its 2024-25 Common Data Set, an official acceptance rate of 14.5%. 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 Grinnell counts the grades, scores and activities they posted.

Grinnell acceptance rate by year

Common Data Set section C1, first-year applicants
CDS year	Applied	Admitted	Acceptance rate	Enrolled	Yield
2024-25	9,758	1,416	14.5%	438	30.9%
2023-24	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published	Not published
2022-23	9,997	1,076	10.8%	437	40.6%

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 Grinnell

Common Data Set section C21
CDS year	ED applicants	ED admitted	ED admit rate	Overall rate
2024-25	828	283	34.2%	14.5%
2023-24	728	297	40.8%	Not published
2022-23	553	292	52.8%	10.8%

Grinnell waitlist

Common Data Set section C2
CDS year	Offered a place	Accepted a place	Admitted from it	Admitted, of those who accepted
2024-25	2,021	1,180	36	3.1%
2023-24	2,220	1,188	3	0.3%
2022-23	2,699	1,426	58	4.1%

Grinnell SAT and ACT scores

Common Data Set section C9, enrolled first-year students who submitted scores
CDS year	SAT 25th to 75th	ACT 25th to 75th	Submitted an SAT
2024-25	1430 to 1520	31 to 34	29.0%
2023-24	1440 to 1530	31 to 34	30.0%
2022-23	1410 to 1520	31 to 34	28.0%

What Grinnell 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 Grinnell rated in the top two tiers.

2024-25: Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Class rank, Recommendations; Important: Academic GPA, Standardized test scores, Application essay, Extracurricular activities, Talent/ability
2023-24: Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Class rank, Recommendations; Important: Academic GPA, Standardized test scores, Application essay, Extracurricular activities, Talent/ability
2022-23: Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Class rank, Academic GPA, Recommendations; Important: Standardized test scores, Application essay, Extracurricular activities, Talent/ability

Grinnell testing policy for students applying in 2026-27

Test optional. Grinnell's first-year apply page says standardized test scores are optional.

From Grinnell’s admissions site, read 2026-11-05. Policies change; the college’s page is the authority.

How these numbers were read

Grinnell has not yet posted a 2025-26 Common Data Set. The 2023-24 C1 total fields print 0, and the Common Data Set notes that detail rows need not add to the total, so that year's applied, admitted and enrolled read Not published.

Grinnell acceptance rate questions

What is the Grinnell acceptance rate?: Grinnell's Common Data Set for 2024-25 reports 9,758 first-year applicants and 1,416 admitted, an acceptance rate of 14.5%. It was 10.8% in 2022-23.
What is the Grinnell early decision acceptance rate?: In 2024-25, 283 of 828 early decision applicants were admitted (34.2%), against 14.5% 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 Grinnell students have?: In 2024-25, the middle half of enrolled first-year students who submitted the SAT scored 1430 to 1520, and ACT submitters scored 31 to 34. 29.0% of enrolled students submitted an SAT score.
How many students get off the Grinnell waitlist?: In 2024-25, Grinnell offered 2,021 applicants a place on the waitlist; 1,180 accepted one, and 36 were admitted from it.
Does Grinnell require the SAT or ACT for students applying in 2026-27?: Test optional. Grinnell's first-year apply page says standardized test scores are optional.

Applying to Grinnell?

An acceptance rate describes the whole pool, not one student. A Specialist can read your student’s file against what Grinnell says it weighs.

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Source: Grinnell Common Data Set, sections C1, C2, C7, C9 and C21, each year linked above, read 2026-11-05. Aristo Scholars is not affiliated with Grinnell. All official acceptance rates