You just found a school you're excited about, and the first question that comes to mind is: "How hard is it to get in?" That single number — the acceptance rate — shapes how you plan your applications, which schools make your shortlist, and whether you need a backup plan.
This acceptance rate calculator gives you the answer in seconds. Enter the total number of applicants and the number who were accepted, and you'll get the acceptance rate as a percentage. It works for college admissions, job offers, graduate programs, fellowship applications, or any scenario where you need to measure selectivity.
No sign-up required. No complex inputs. Just two numbers and an instant result.
What Is Acceptance Rate?
Acceptance rate measures how selective a process is. It tells you the percentage of applicants who received an offer or were admitted out of everyone who applied.
A 10% acceptance rate means that for every 100 people who applied, only 10 were accepted. A 90% rate means nearly everyone who applied got in.
You'll encounter acceptance rates most often when researching colleges, but the concept applies anywhere decisions are made about who gets in and who doesn't — job applications, grant proposals, conference submissions, even rental applications in competitive housing markets.
The lower the rate, the more competitive the process. The higher the rate, the more accessible it is.
The Acceptance Rate Formula
The formula is straightforward:
Acceptance Rate = (Number Accepted ÷ Total Applicants) × 100
That's it. Divide the number of people who were accepted by the total number who applied, then multiply by 100 to express it as a percentage.
Quick example: A university receives 25,000 applications and admits 5,000 students.
Acceptance Rate = (5,000 ÷ 25,000) × 100 = 20%
One thing to keep in mind — acceptance rate and enrollment rate are different numbers. Not everyone who gets accepted actually enrolls. The acceptance rate only tracks the admissions decision, not what happens afterward.
Understanding Acceptance Rate Ranges
Not sure whether the number you calculated is high, low, or somewhere in between? Here's a general guide:
Acceptance Rate | Selectivity Level | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
Below 10% | Extremely Selective | Highly competitive — think Ivy League and top-tier programs |
10% – 25% | Very Selective | Strong competition; most applicants are qualified but few get in |
25% – 50% | Selective | Competitive, but well-prepared applicants have reasonable odds |
50% – 75% | Moderately Selective | Majority of qualified applicants are accepted |
Above 75% | Less Selective | Most applicants are admitted; focus is on meeting basic requirements |
These ranges work well for college admissions, but they shift depending on context. A 30% acceptance rate for a venture capital fund is actually quite generous. A 30% acceptance rate for a job posting at a mid-size company might signal something is off with the hiring funnel.
Always compare acceptance rates within the same category for them to be meaningful.
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter the total number of applicants — This is everyone who submitted an application, regardless of whether they were qualified.
- Enter the number of applicants accepted — This is the number who received an offer of admission or acceptance.
- Read your result — The calculator instantly displays the acceptance rate as a percentage.
If you want to work backward — say you know a program's acceptance rate and the number of applicants, and you want to figure out how many spots were available — just rearrange the formula: Number Accepted = (Acceptance Rate ÷ 100) × Total Applicants.
Practical Examples
A High School Student Comparing Colleges
Maya is building her college list and wants to understand how competitive each school is. She pulls the numbers from each school's common data set:
- School A: 42,000 applicants, 6,300 admitted → (6,300 ÷ 42,000) × 100 = 15% — Very selective. This is a reach school.
- School B: 18,500 applicants, 7,400 admitted → (7,400 ÷ 18,500) × 100 = 40% — Selective but realistic. A strong target school.
- School C: 9,000 applicants, 6,750 admitted → (6,750 ÷ 9,000) × 100 = 75% — A solid safety school.
This helps Maya balance her list with a healthy mix of reach, target, and safety schools.
An HR Manager Tracking Hiring Efficiency
David runs recruiting at a mid-size tech company. Last quarter, his team extended 45 job offers and 32 candidates accepted.
Offer Acceptance Rate = (32 ÷ 45) × 100 = 71.1%
That's below the industry benchmark of about 80-90%. David digs deeper and finds that compensation was the main reason candidates declined. He uses this data to make the case for adjusting salary bands in next quarter's budget.
A Graduate Program Reviewing Its Selectivity
The admissions committee for a master's program received 1,200 applications and accepted 180 students.
Acceptance Rate = (180 ÷ 1,200) × 100 = 15%
They compare this to last year's 22% rate and realize applications surged without a proportional increase in spots. This helps them plan for additional cohort seats or targeted outreach.
A Nonprofit Evaluating Grant Success
An arts nonprofit submitted 12 grant applications over the past year and received funding for 4.
Acceptance Rate = (4 ÷ 12) × 100 = 33.3%
That's actually strong for competitive grant cycles, where many foundations fund fewer than 20% of proposals. The development team uses this to benchmark their approach and decide which funders to reapply to.
College Acceptance Rate Benchmarks
If you're researching schools, here are acceptance rates for well-known universities to give you a frame of reference:
University | Approximate Acceptance Rate | Classification |
|---|---|---|
Harvard University | ~3-4% | Extremely Selective |
Stanford University | ~4% | Extremely Selective |
MIT | ~4% | Extremely Selective |
Columbia University | ~4% | Extremely Selective |
Yale University | ~5% | Extremely Selective |
UCLA | ~9% | Extremely Selective |
NYU | ~13% | Very Selective |
University of Michigan | ~18% | Very Selective |
University of Texas at Austin | ~31% | Selective |
Penn State | ~55% | Moderately Selective |
University of Kansas | ~88% | Less Selective |
Keep in mind that these numbers shift every year as application volumes change. Always check the most recent data from the school's admissions office or the Common Data Set.
Acceptance Rates Beyond College Admissions
While college admissions get the most attention, acceptance rates are used to measure competitiveness in many other areas:
Job Offer Acceptance Rates — HR teams track what percentage of candidates accept job offers. A healthy offer acceptance rate is typically 80-90%. Anything below 70% often signals problems with compensation, company culture, or the length of the hiring process.
Conference Paper Acceptance Rates — Academic conferences publish their acceptance rates to signal prestige. Top-tier CS conferences like NeurIPS or CVPR often accept fewer than 25% of submissions. A 15% rate is considered highly selective in most fields.
Venture Capital & Startup Funding — VC firms typically fund fewer than 1-2% of pitches they receive. Accelerators like Y Combinator accept roughly 1.5-3% of applicants.
Medical Residency Match Rates — Some specialties have match rates below 50%, meaning even after four years of medical school, getting into your preferred specialty is far from guaranteed.
Rental Applications — In competitive housing markets, landlords may receive dozens of applications for a single unit. Tracking the acceptance rate helps property managers understand demand.
Tips for Interpreting Acceptance Rates
Don't confuse acceptance rate with your personal probability. A school with a 20% acceptance rate doesn't mean you have a 20% chance. Your individual odds depend on your qualifications relative to the applicant pool. If you're above the median profile, your chances are significantly better than the headline number suggests.
Look at trends, not just snapshots. A single year's acceptance rate doesn't tell the whole story. If a school's rate dropped from 35% to 20% over five years, that signals rapidly increasing competition — useful for planning your application timeline.
Consider the applicant pool size. Two programs might both have a 30% acceptance rate, but the one receiving 50,000 applications is operating at a completely different scale than one receiving 500. The raw numbers add context that percentages alone can't provide.
Watch for self-selection bias. Schools with very low acceptance rates often benefit from self-selection — students who don't think they have a chance simply don't apply. This can make the rate appear lower than the actual difficulty of admission for qualified applicants.