College Acceptance Rate Calculator
Calculate a college's acceptance rate and your statistical likelihood of admission based on the applicant pool.
Assuming similar acceptance rates at each
Acceptance Rate
20.0 %
Rejection Rate80.0 %
Chance of At Least 1 Acceptance83.2 %
Expected Acceptances1.6
Acceptance Rate vs Total Applicants
How College Acceptance Rate Works
The acceptance rate is simply the proportion of applicants who receive an offer of admission.
Formula
Acceptance Rate = Admitted / Total Applicants
Probability of At Least One Acceptance = 1 - (1 - Rate)^Schools Applied
Applying to multiple schools increases your overall chances. If each school has a 20% acceptance rate and you apply to 8, your chance of getting into at least one is about 83%.
Example Calculation
A college receives 40,000 applications and admits 8,000. The student applies to 8 similar schools.
- 01Acceptance rate: 8,000 / 40,000 = 20.0%
- 02Rejection rate: 80.0%
- 03P(at least one): 1 - 0.80^8 = 1 - 0.1678 = 83.2%
- 04Expected acceptances: 8 x 0.20 = 1.6