What separates accepted vs. rejected applicants at Vanderbilt, UChicago, Tufts, Notre Dame, Boston College and Tulane? Each is a selective private university with too few admits in our tally for its own write-up, so we pooled them: 326 decisions from 211 applicants who posted full 2026 results on r/collegeresults. 76 were admitted, 163 rejected and 87 waitlisted.
The short version: at these six schools, a perfect GPA didn't separate applicants, but a high SAT did. That's the opposite of what we found at Yale, Princeton and Stanford. More than a quarter of all decisions were waitlists.
This is part of our larger comparison of accepted vs. rejected applicants at top colleges, which explains how the data was collected.
How to read these numbers
The applicants here were admitted in 23% of their decisions, versus about 9% officially across the six schools. That gap is who posts: strong applicants with good news are more likely to share results. So don't read 23% as your odds. Read the gaps between groups instead. Each comparison below was checked against school mix, and where the groups aimed at different schools, we say so.
Each school has only 10 to 15 admits, so the school-by-school figures are hints. The pooled patterns are more reliable.
School by school
| School | Official admit rate | Admitted in this sample | Waitlisted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vanderbilt | 5.9% | 14 of 83 | 31 |
| UChicago | 4.5% | 13 of 81 | 24 |
| Tufts | 11.5% | 15 of 59 | 11 |
| Notre Dame | 11.3% | 14 of 37 | 3 |
| Boston College | 16.4% | 10 of 43 | 14 |
| Tulane | 14.0% | 10 of 23 | 4 |
Vanderbilt waitlisted 31 of 83 applicants (37%), and UChicago 24 of 81. Across all six, 96 applicants were waitlisted at some point and 9 were later admitted, 5 of them at UChicago. Our waitlist strategy guide covers what to do if you land there.
The SAT mattered; a 4.0 didn't
| SAT (scores sent) | Admitted in this sample | Decisions (people) |
|---|---|---|
| Below 1530 | 14.0% | 100 (66) |
| 1530-1560 | 27.3% | 88 (56) |
| 1570-1600 | 41.0% | 39 (28) |
Admit rates nearly tripled from the lowest SAT band to the highest. And it wasn't because the higher scorers aimed at easier schools: their schools averaged an 8.1% official admit rate, versus 10.5% for the lower scorers. If anything, they aimed higher and still did better.
GPA told a different story. Applicants with a 4.0 were admitted in 23.8% of decisions, versus 23.2% for everyone below a 4.0, no real difference. At Vanderbilt and UChicago, a 4.0 was actually less common among admits (3 of 10 and 3 of 11) than among non-admits (23 of 51 and 22 of 52). There was still a floor: below a 3.9, applicants were admitted just 15.1% of the time, versus 26.9% at 3.9 or above.
So at these six schools, once a GPA was in the high 3s, the test score separated applicants more than the last tenth of a GPA point. Nearly every decision in this sample came with a test score (301 of 326). If you're deciding whether to submit, compare your score with each school's own range in the chances calculator, and see test-optional vs. test-blind for how the policies differ.
Computer science applicants did worse
CS applicants were admitted in 14.9% of their decisions here, versus 24.7% for everyone else. The clearest case was UChicago, where 1 of the 13 admits was a CS or engineering applicant, versus 27 of 68 non-admits. Engineering applicants did better than average (32.7% versus 21.4%), driven by Notre Dame, where 8 of 14 admits were aiming at CS or engineering. We compare CS applicants at 36 schools in is computer science harder to get into?
Which activities showed up more among admits
Admit rate within the sample, for decisions where the applicant listed each item, versus decisions where they didn't:
- A selective summer program: 31.9% versus 20.0% (57 people).
- National Merit: 31.2% versus 20.2% (61 people).
- A religious or cultural group: 30.5% versus 20.9% (50 people).
- A school award: 28.9% versus 19.0% (89 people).
- Clubs and honor societies: 26.8% versus 19.8% (107 people).
And some came with lower rates:
- A service or leadership award: 16.5% versus 25.7% (50 people).
- Journalism: 16.4% versus 25.1% (45 people).
- Student government: 18.6% versus 25.0% (55 people).
- Community service: 21.9% versus 26.1%.
National Merit and selective summer programs both track test scores closely, which fits the SAT pattern above. The religious and cultural group result is harder to explain; Notre Dame and Boston College are Catholic universities, but this data can't say whether that's the reason.
Early rounds and deferrals
These schools use a mix of early rounds: Early Decision at Vanderbilt, UChicago, Tufts, Boston College and Tulane, Restrictive Early Action at Notre Dame, and Early Action at UChicago and Tulane. Early applications were admitted 18 times out of 58 (31%), versus 42 of 157 in regular decision (27%), a small gap. A deferral was rarely good news: 14 applicants were deferred, and only 1 was later admitted. We cover what helps in deferred from a college? here's what actually helps.
What applicants to these schools can take from this
- Your SAT matters here more than a perfect GPA. Above a 3.9, the score separated applicants; the last tenth of a GPA point didn't.
- Expect waitlists, especially at Vanderbilt and UChicago.
- CS applicants face a harder pool, especially at UChicago.
- Don't count on a deferral. Only 1 of 14 turned into an admit.
Sources
- College Intel's tally of self-reported r/collegeresults posts, 2026 admissions cycle (445 posts logged as of Oct 17, 2026; 326 decisions at Vanderbilt, UChicago, Tufts, Notre Dame, Boston College and Tulane from 211 applicants). Recruited athletes and transfer applicants excluded. Aggregates only; no individual post is reproduced, and no figure rests on fewer than 3 people.
- College Scorecard -- U.S. Department of Education (official admission rates)