Wellesley acceptance rate and admissions statistics
Wellesley admitted 1,258 of 8,506 first-year applicants in its 2025-26 Common Data Set, an official acceptance rate of 14.8%. 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 Wellesley counts the grades, scores and activities they posted.
Wellesley acceptance rate by year
| CDS year | Applied | Admitted | Acceptance rate | Enrolled | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 8,506 | 1,258 | 14.8% | 576 | 45.8% |
| 2024-25 | 8,714 | 1,224 | 14.0% | 583 | 47.6% |
| 2023-24 | 8,184 | 1,138 | 13.9% | 573 | 50.4% |
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 Wellesley
Wellesley waitlist
Wellesley SAT and ACT scores
What Wellesley 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 Wellesley rated in the top two tiers.
- 2025-26
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA, Recommendations, Character/personal qualities
- Important: Class rank, Application essay, Extracurricular activities, Talent/ability
- 2024-25
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA, Recommendations, Character/personal qualities
- Important: Class rank, Application essay, Extracurricular activities, Talent/ability
- 2023-24
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA, Recommendations, Character/personal qualities
- Important: Class rank, Application essay, Extracurricular activities, Talent/ability
Wellesley testing policy for students applying in 2026-27
Test-optional. Wellesley 'will continue to be test optional for those applying for entry in fall 2027', and the college will keep reviewing the policy.
From Wellesley’s admissions site, read 2026-11-05. Policies change; the college’s page is the authority.
How these numbers were read
The 2023-24 document prints no year header; its year comes from its file name.
Wellesley acceptance rate questions
- What is the Wellesley acceptance rate?
- Wellesley's Common Data Set for 2025-26 reports 8,506 first-year applicants and 1,258 admitted, an acceptance rate of 14.8%. It was 14.0% in 2024-25 and 13.9% in 2023-24.
- What is the Wellesley early decision acceptance rate?
- In 2025-26, 301 of 1,023 early decision applicants were admitted (29.4%), against 14.8% 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 Wellesley students have?
- In 2025-26, the middle half of enrolled first-year students who submitted the SAT scored 1460 to 1540, and ACT submitters scored 33 to 35. 44.0% of enrolled students submitted an SAT score.
- How many students get off the Wellesley waitlist?
- In 2025-26, Wellesley offered 2,214 applicants a place on the waitlist; 1,121 accepted one, and 59 were admitted from it.
- Does Wellesley require the SAT or ACT for students applying in 2026-27?
- Test-optional. Wellesley 'will continue to be test optional for those applying for entry in fall 2027', and the college will keep reviewing the policy.
Applying to Wellesley?
An acceptance rate describes the whole pool, not one student. A Specialist can read your student’s file against what Wellesley says it weighs.
Source: Wellesley Common Data Set, sections C1, C2, C7, C9 and C21, each year linked above, read 2026-11-05. Aristo Scholars is not affiliated with Wellesley. All official acceptance rates