Macalester acceptance rate and admissions statistics
Macalester admitted 2,481 of 8,819 first-year applicants in its 2025-26 Common Data Set, an official acceptance rate of 28.1%. 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 Macalester counts the grades, scores and activities they posted.
Macalester acceptance rate by year
| CDS year | Applied | Admitted | Acceptance rate | Enrolled | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 8,819 | 2,481 | 28.1% | 534 | 21.5% |
| 2024-25 | 8,968 | 2,558 | 28.5% | 560 | 21.9% |
| 2023-24 | 8,099 | 2,285 | 28.2% | 518 | 22.7% |
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 Macalester
Macalester waitlist
Macalester SAT and ACT scores
What Macalester 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 Macalester rated in the top two tiers.
- 2025-26
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA
- Important: Application essay, Recommendations, Extracurricular activities, Character/personal qualities
- 2024-25
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA
- Important: Application essay, Recommendations, Extracurricular activities, Character/personal qualities
- 2023-24
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA
- Important: Recommendations, Application essay, Extracurricular activities, Character/personal qualities
Macalester testing policy for students applying in 2026-27
Test-optional for first-year and transfer applicants. Non-submitters face no disadvantage in admission or merit scholarships, there is no minimum score, and ACT scores without Science are accepted.
From Macalester’s admissions site, read 2026-11-05. Policies change; the college’s page is the authority.
How these numbers were read
The ACT composite 25th percentile is printed as 29.75 in 2025-26 and 29.5 in 2024-25, and is shown as printed. C1 prints no total line, so the 2025-26 and 2023-24 totals are the sums of the gender rows.
Macalester acceptance rate questions
- What is the Macalester acceptance rate?
- Macalester's Common Data Set for 2025-26 reports 8,819 first-year applicants and 2,481 admitted, an acceptance rate of 28.1%. It was 28.5% in 2024-25 and 28.2% in 2023-24.
- What is the Macalester early decision acceptance rate?
- In 2025-26, 201 of 479 early decision applicants were admitted (42.0%), against 28.1% 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 Macalester students have?
- In 2025-26, the middle half of enrolled first-year students who submitted the SAT scored 1350 to 1480, and ACT submitters scored 29.75 to 33. 35.0% of enrolled students submitted an SAT score.
- How many students get off the Macalester waitlist?
- In 2025-26, Macalester offered 765 applicants a place on the waitlist; 446 accepted one, and 82 were admitted from it.
- Does Macalester require the SAT or ACT for students applying in 2026-27?
- Test-optional for first-year and transfer applicants. Non-submitters face no disadvantage in admission or merit scholarships, there is no minimum score, and ACT scores without Science are accepted.
Applying to Macalester?
An acceptance rate describes the whole pool, not one student. A Specialist can read your student’s file against what Macalester says it weighs.
Source: Macalester Common Data Set, sections C1, C2, C7, C9 and C21, each year linked above, read 2026-11-05. Aristo Scholars is not affiliated with Macalester. All official acceptance rates