The Ivy League: All 8 Schools, Real Acceptance Rates
Brown·Columbia·Cornell·Dartmouth·Harvard·Penn·Princeton·Yale
“Ivy League” gets used as loose shorthand for “elite college,” but it's a precise, closed list: eight private universities bound by a 1954 athletic conference agreement, not a ranking or an accreditation. There is no ninth Ivy and no path for another school to join. Below is each of the eight, ranked by its actual most-recently-reported acceptance rate, plus real data on what each school actually looks for, how much they cost after aid, and the 14-year acceptance-rate trend -- not the recycled “chance me” content every consulting-firm blog runs on.
All 8 schools, by acceptance rate
| School | Acceptance rate | Net price | Yield rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harvard University | 4% | $19,066 | 83% |
| Yale University | 4% | $23,777 | 68% |
| Columbia University in the City of New York | 4% | $21,590 | 64% |
| Princeton University | 5% | $6,128 | 69% |
| Brown University | 5% | $25,184 | 67% |
| Dartmouth College | 5% | $29,519 | 62% |
| University of Pennsylvania | 5% | $28,699 | 68% |
| Cornell University | 9% | $28,690 | 68% |
Acceptance rate, net price, and yield are the US Dept of Education's most recently reported figures -- same source as every school profile on this site. Net price is what students actually pay after aid, not the sticker price.
Frequently asked questions
How many Ivy League schools are there?
Exactly eight: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale. It's a fixed athletic conference founded in 1954, not an open or growing category -- see our full explainer below.
What is the hardest and easiest Ivy League school to get into?
Based on the most recently reported federal data, Harvard University has the lowest acceptance rate among the eight at 4%, and Cornell University has the highest at 9%. Every Ivy League school is still highly selective in absolute terms.
Do any Ivy League schools ignore class rank?
Yes -- Harvard and Brown both rate class rank "not considered" in their own Common Data Set filings, while Yale, Dartmouth, and Princeton rate it "very important." See the full 18-factor comparison below.
Which Ivy League school actually costs the least?
By net price (what students actually pay after aid, not sticker price), Princeton University is the least expensive of the eight at $6,128, versus $29,519 at Dartmouth College -- a gap driven almost entirely by financial aid policy, not tuition itself, since every Ivy charges a similar sticker price.
What's the most popular major at Ivy League schools?
Economics and computer science, by a wide margin -- one or the other is the #1 or #2 most-conferred major at 6 of the 8 Ivies. Economics alone appears in the top 3 at all 8 once Penn's Financial Analytics (an econ/finance hybrid) is counted. See our full breakdown of each Ivy's top majors, and how that compares to other elite schools, below.
Do all 8 Ivy League schools use the same early application plan?
No. Five -- Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Penn -- use binding Early Decision. The other three -- Harvard, Princeton, and Yale -- use a non-binding Restrictive (Single-Choice) Early Action instead, which still bars you from applying early to any other private school even though you're not committed to enroll.
What each Ivy actually looks for
Real Common Data Set ratings, straight from each school -- see the full 18-factor comparison or what the surprising splits mean.
14 years of acceptance rates
| 2011 | 6.26% |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 5.81% |
| 2013 | 5.84% |
| 2014 | 5.96% |
| 2015 | 5.58% |
| 2016 | 5.4% |
| 2017 | 5.16% |
| 2018 | 4.73% |
| 2019 | 4.64% |
| 2020 | 5.01% |
| 2021 | 4.01% |
| 2022 | 3.24% |
| 2023 | 3.45% |
| 2024 | 3.65% |
| 2011 | 7.88% |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 7.73% |
| 2013 | 7.05% |
| 2014 | 6.3% |
| 2015 | 6.73% |
| 2016 | 6.32% |
| 2017 | 6.93% |
| 2018 | 6.35% |
| 2019 | 6.08% |
| 2020 | 6.53% |
| 2021 | 5.31% |
| 2022 | 4.57% |
| 2023 | 4.5% |
| 2024 | 3.87% |
| 2011 | 8.46% |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 7.85% |
| 2013 | 7.41% |
| 2014 | 7.44% |
| 2015 | 7.14% |
| 2016 | 6.52% |
| 2017 | 6.41% |
| 2018 | 5.48% |
| 2019 | 5.78% |
| 2020 | 5.63% |
| 2021 | 4.38% |
| 2022 | 5.7% |
| 2023 | 4.5% |
| 2024 | 4.62% |
| 2011 | 9.54% |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 6.95% |
| 2013 | 7.42% |
| 2014 | 6.95% |
| 2015 | 6.61% |
| 2016 | 6.83% |
| 2017 | 6.4% |
| 2018 | 5.91% |
| 2019 | 5.45% |
| 2020 | 6.66% |
| 2021 | 4.13% |
| 2022 | 3.95% |
| 2023 | 4.23% |
| 2024 | 3.99% |
| 2011 | 8.91% |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 9.6% |
| 2013 | 9.18% |
| 2014 | 8.74% |
| 2015 | 9.49% |
| 2016 | 9.31% |
| 2017 | 8.49% |
| 2018 | 7.67% |
| 2019 | 7.07% |
| 2020 | 7.67% |
| 2021 | 5.51% |
| 2022 | 5.06% |
| 2023 | 5.23% |
| 2024 | 5.39% |
| 2011 | 12.43% |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 12.6% |
| 2013 | 12.24% |
| 2014 | 10.37% |
| 2015 | 10.16% |
| 2016 | 9.44% |
| 2017 | 9.3% |
| 2018 | 8.41% |
| 2019 | 7.66% |
| 2020 | 8.98% |
| 2021 | 5.87% |
| 2022 | 6.5% |
| 2023 | 5.87% |
| 2024 | 5.4% |
| 2011 | 11.68% |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 10.14% |
| 2013 | 9.78% |
| 2014 | 11.5% |
| 2015 | 10.97% |
| 2016 | 10.59% |
| 2017 | 10.45% |
| 2018 | 8.74% |
| 2019 | 7.93% |
| 2020 | 9.22% |
| 2021 | 6.17% |
| 2022 | 6.38% |
| 2023 | 6.23% |
| 2024 | 5.4% |
| 2011 | 17.97% |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 16.55% |
| 2013 | 15.56% |
| 2014 | 14.19% |
| 2015 | 15.07% |
| 2016 | 14.09% |
| 2017 | 12.67% |
| 2018 | 10.61% |
| 2019 | 10.85% |
| 2020 | 10.71% |
| 2021 | 8.69% |
| 2022 | 7.47% |
| 2023 | 8.16% |
| 2024 | 8.76% |
Every school on the same 0-20% scale, so bar heights are directly comparable across panels -- Cornell's bars run roughly twice as tall as Harvard's at every point in the series, not just today. Source: US Dept of Education College Scorecard, year-by-year admissions data.
No-loan financial aid, compared
*Cornell is the one Ivy that doesn't eliminate loans at every income level -- above its $75K threshold, expected loans scale up with income instead of staying at $0. Every other school here eliminates loans entirely once demonstrated need is met, regardless of income. Source: each school's own official financial aid page.
Legacy admissions: what's disclosed
All 8 Ivies currently consider legacy status. Only Harvard and Princeton have ever disclosed a legacy-specific admit rate -- Harvard's came out through litigation (33.6% legacy vs. 5.9% non-legacy); the other 6 have only reported legacy as a share of the class, a different and less revealing number. See what's actually disclosed, school by school →
Waitlist odds: what's disclosed
Every Ivy's own Common Data Set has a section built to report exactly how many students were offered a waitlist spot, accepted it, and were admitted from it -- but only 4 of the 8 actually disclose enough to compute a real rate.
Rate = admitted ÷ accepted a waitlist spot, from each school's own Common Data Set. Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown, and Columbia each withhold at least one of the three waitlist figures, so no rate can be computed for them at all -- see the article for what each of those four actually discloses instead.
See what each of the 8 schools actually discloses, including the one that reports nothing at all.
Early vs. regular decision: what's disclosed
For the current cycle, only Brown and Yale's own reporting gives a real, round-specific acceptance rate for both early and regular decision. Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth, Columbia, and Penn have all stopped publishing that breakdown. See what each school actually discloses, and why two have gone dark entirely →
Most popular majors
Economics and computer science trade the #1 and #2 spots at almost every Ivy -- but that pattern isn't unique to the Ivy League. MIT and Caltech skew almost entirely STEM, and public flagships lean harder into business and health fields.
Computer science and economics are the #1 major at 15 of the 18 schools compared here -- the pattern holds across Ivy, elite-private, and public-flagship tiers alike. Source: Data USA / IPEDS Completions data, most recent year available.
See the full school-by-school breakdown, and how it compares to MIT, Stanford, and top public flagships.
Articles on the Ivy League
What Is the Ivy League, Actually? It's an Athletic Conference, Not an Academic Ranking
The Ivy League has a precise, legal definition -- eight specific schools bound by a 1954 sports agreement -- and it has never been an academic accreditation, a ranking, or a certification of quality. Using it as shorthand for "elite college" is a category error worth understanding.
Admissions StrategyWhat Is a "Public Ivy"? The Real List Depends on Which Book You Read
"Public Ivy" isn't one list -- it's two different books, 16 years apart, naming very different sets of schools. Richard Moll's original 1985 list had 8 names. A 2001 guide expanded it to 30. Neither is official.
Admissions StrategyWhich Ivy League Schools Have Early Decision vs. Early Action? The Real Breakdown
Five Ivies use binding Early Decision. Three -- Harvard, Princeton, and Yale -- use a non-binding Restrictive Early Action that still stops you from applying early to any other private school. The two policies aren't interchangeable, and picking the wrong one costs you an early shot elsewhere.
Admissions StrategyDo Ivy League Schools Give Athletic Scholarships? The Real Policy, Tested in Court
The Ivy League is the only Division I conference that bans athletic scholarships entirely -- a policy dating to the same 1954 agreement that created the conference itself. Recruited athletes still get aid, but only the same need-based aid any other student qualifies for.
AcademicsWhat Honors Colleges Are, and How They're Competing With the Ivy League for Top Students
Barrett Honors College at ASU costs about $15,400 a year in-state -- 20% or less of an Ivy sticker price -- while offering seminar classes, a residential community, and a thesis requirement. Here's how public honors colleges built a real pitch to top students.
Admissions StrategyDoes Harvard Consider Class Rank? What the 8 Ivy League Schools Actually Look For
Every Ivy League school rates 18 admission factors in its own Common Data Set every year -- and the real answers are more surprising than 'they all want the same thing.' Harvard and Brown skip class rank entirely; Columbia is alone in rating the interview and demonstrated interest as very important.
Admissions StrategyIvy League Acceptance Rates, 2011-2024: How Much They've Actually Fallen
Every Ivy League school's acceptance rate has roughly halved or more since 2011 -- Harvard from 6.3% to 3.65%, Cornell from 18% to 8.76% -- but the real story is that Cornell has stayed the 'easiest' Ivy at every single point in the 14-year series.
Financial Aid & CostsNo-Loan Financial Aid at Every Ivy League School, Compared (Cornell Is the Exception)
All 8 Ivy League schools are need-blind and offer generous aid -- but 7 of them eliminate loans from financial aid packages entirely, regardless of income, while Cornell still expects loans once your family earns above $75,000. Here's every school's real threshold, verified against its own official page.
Admissions StrategyLegacy Admissions at Every Ivy League School: What's Actually Disclosed (Only 2 of 8)
All 8 Ivies consider legacy status, per their own Common Data Set filings -- but only Harvard and Princeton have ever disclosed a real legacy-specific admit rate. The other 6 report legacy as a share of the class, which answers a different, less revealing question.
Majors & CareersThe Most Popular Majors at Ivy League Schools -- and How They Compare to Other Top Universities
Economics and computer science dominate the Ivy League's most-conferred majors -- but that pattern isn't unique to the Ivies. MIT and Caltech skew almost entirely STEM, public flagships lean harder into business and health fields, and UCLA is the one top school where CS doesn't even crack the top 3.
Admissions StrategyIvy League Waitlist Acceptance Rates: What Every School Actually Discloses
Every Ivy League school's own Common Data Set is supposed to report waitlist numbers -- but only Yale, Cornell, Princeton, and Penn disclose enough to compute a real rate. Harvard, Dartmouth, and Brown each withhold at least one figure, and Columbia discloses none at all.
Admissions StrategyIvy League Early vs. Regular Decision Acceptance Rates: Only 2 of 8 Schools Disclose Both
Every 'chance me' thread wants the exact early-vs-regular split at each Ivy -- but for the current cycle, only Brown and Yale's own reporting actually gives both numbers. Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth, Columbia, and Penn have all gone dark on round-specific data.