Stanford acceptance rate and admissions statistics
Stanford admitted 2,302 of 60,646 first-year applicants in its 2025-26 Common Data Set, an official acceptance rate of 3.8%. 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 Stanford counts the grades, scores and activities they posted.
Stanford acceptance rate by year
| CDS year | Applied | Admitted | Acceptance rate | Enrolled | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 60,646 | 2,302 | 3.8% | 1,839 | 79.9% |
| 2024-25 | 57,326 | 2,067 | 3.6% | 1,693 | 81.9% |
| 2023-24 | 53,733 | 2,099 | 3.9% | 1,699 | 80.9% |
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 Stanford
Early decision counts: Not published. Stanford’s Common Data Set prints no early decision applicant or admit counts (section C21) for any year shown.
Stanford waitlist
Stanford SAT and ACT scores
What Stanford 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 Stanford rated in the top two tiers.
- 2025-26
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Class rank, Academic GPA, Standardized test scores, Application essay, Recommendations, Extracurricular activities, Talent/ability, Character/personal qualities
- Important: None recorded
- 2024-25
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Class rank, Academic GPA, Application essay, Recommendations, Extracurricular activities, Talent/ability, Character/personal qualities
- Important: None recorded
- 2023-24
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Class rank, Academic GPA, Recommendations, Application essay, Extracurricular activities, Talent/ability, Character/personal qualities
- Important: None recorded
Stanford testing policy for students applying in 2026-27
Test required. The first-year testing page states that ACT or SAT scores are required.
From Stanford’s admissions site, read 2026-11-05. Policies change; the college’s page is the authority.
How these numbers were read
The 2023-24 C1 prints counts by gender only, so that year's totals are the sums of the men and women rows. Stanford offers Restrictive Early Action rather than early decision, so C21 has no early decision counts. C7 rates standardized test scores Very Important in 2025-26 and Considered in the two earlier years.
Stanford acceptance rate questions
- What is the Stanford acceptance rate?
- Stanford's Common Data Set for 2025-26 reports 60,646 first-year applicants and 2,302 admitted, an acceptance rate of 3.8%. It was 3.6% in 2024-25 and 3.9% in 2023-24.
- What SAT scores do Stanford students have?
- In 2025-26, the middle half of enrolled first-year students who submitted the SAT scored 1520 to 1570, and ACT submitters scored 34 to 36. 55.6% of enrolled students submitted an SAT score.
- How many students get off the Stanford waitlist?
- In 2025-26, Stanford offered 669 applicants a place on the waitlist; 573 accepted one, and 57 were admitted from it.
- Does Stanford require the SAT or ACT for students applying in 2026-27?
- Test required. The first-year testing page states that ACT or SAT scores are required.
Applying to Stanford?
An acceptance rate describes the whole pool, not one student. A Specialist can read your student’s file against what Stanford says it weighs.
Source: Stanford Common Data Set, sections C1, C2, C7, C9 and C21, each year linked above, read 2026-11-05. Aristo Scholars is not affiliated with Stanford. All official acceptance rates