Swarthmore College
What Swarthmore College's own numbers say, from its Common Data Set 2025-26.
See your odds at Swarthmore College →All 3 insights at Swarthmore College PRO
Early DecisionSwarthmore College
Swarthmore College's ED number is inflated.
18% of Early Decision applicants get in, but that pool includes recruited athletes and legacies, admitted at far higher rates. Without them, our estimate is about 13%. Everyone else: 6.4%.
ED, as reported18%
ED, without hooks (estimate)≈13%
Everyone else6.4%
Source: Swarthmore College's Common Data Set 2025-26; hooked share is an estimate (A12)
MoneySwarthmore College
Swarthmore College meets 100% of need.
The average need-based grant is $74,043 a year, against tuition of $68,766.
Average grant$74k
Tuition$69k
Source: Swarthmore College's Common Data Set 2025-26
Early DecisionSwarthmore College
54% of Swarthmore College's class is filled in Early Decision.
That leaves about 198 seats for 11,714 applicants outside ED.
Admitted Early Decision54%
Everyone else46%
Source: Swarthmore College's Common Data Set 2025-26
6 more things the data says PRO
- After ED, 198 of 426 seats were left for 11,714 other applicants: about one seat for every 59.
- ED applicants were admitted at 18%, against 6.4% for everyone else: 2.8 times the rate.
- Early Decision filled about 54% of the 2025-26 first-year class, less than most similar colleges.
- It reports meeting 100% of financial need for first-years who have need.
- Applications rose 14% from 2019-20 to 2025-26 (11,442 to 12,995).
- Women were admitted at a lower rate: 6.9% for women against 8.3% for men.
What students say PRO
From students' own posts on Reddit and admissions forums: self-reported, unverified, never used in your odds.
- Most admits who named a round (16 of 19) applied Regular Decision, with SAT mostly 1400 to 1590, ACT 28 to 36, and GPAs mostly 3.8 to 4.0.
- Many admits (about 15 of 45) were first-generation students, often with heavy family duties like caregiving, a family restaurant or family business.
- Many had research, publications or competitions, including published independent projects, lab internships, history programs and national medals.
- Many led a group, such as club president, honor society chapter head, quiz team captain or founder of a service group.
- Humanities admits showed creative work, such as published poetry, literary magazines, a short film or a political book.
- Students report the waitlist rarely moves, with few offers this cycle and odds seen as close to zero.
- International applicants report the optional spontaneous video response was received positively by the admissions office.
- Students report CSS fee waiver codes usually arrive before decisions, but aid details after admission can be hard to find.
Every number, year by year: Swarthmore College on Open College Data. Something wrong? Suggest a correction.