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What are the Easiest & Hardest Ivy League Schools to get into?
All eight Ivies ranked by acceptance rate, and what the ranking leaves out
Arkesh P.
Chief Operating Officer at Crimson
Summary
Cornell is the easiest Ivy League school to get into, with an 8.38% acceptance rate for the Class of 2029, and Harvard is the hardest at 4.18%. Columbia (4.29%), Princeton (4.42%) and Yale (4.60%) sit just behind Harvard, with Penn (4.87%), Brown (5.65%) and Dartmouth (6.0%) in the middle. Harvard has posted the lowest rate and Cornell the highest in every cycle for the past decade. Even the easiest Ivy turns away 11 of every 12 applicants.
Ivy League schools ranked by acceptance rate
Ranked by Class of 2029 acceptance rate, the easiest Ivy League school to get into is Cornell at 8.38% and the hardest is Harvard at 4.18%. The Class of 2029 is the most recent cycle with figures from all eight schools, which is why it anchors the ranking. Class of 2030 rates appear where released. Harvard and Cornell haven't published theirs yet.
Rank | School | Acceptance rate (Class of 2029) | Acceptance rate (Class of 2030) |
1 (Hardest) | 4.2% | Not yet released (Est 4.2%) | |
2 | 4.3% | 4.2% | |
3 | 4.4% | 4.4%* | |
4 | 4.6% | 4.2% | |
5 | 4.9% | 5.8% | |
6 | 5.7% | 5.4% | |
7 | 6.0% | 5.8% | |
8 (Easiest) | 8.4% | 8.4%* |
Ivy League schools ranked by Class of 2029 acceptance rate. Harvard, Princeton and Cornell figures include waitlist offers. Sources: university announcements and Common Data Sets *marks Crimson estimates.
Ivy League Acceptance Rates
AdmittedApplicants
Source: CDS & Crimson Estimates*
The eight schools fall into three groups. Harvard, Columbia and Princeton admit under 4.5% of applicants. Yale, Penn, Brown and Dartmouth admit between about 4.5% and 6%. Cornell sits alone above 8%. The gaps inside the middle group are small enough that the order reshuffles from year to year, and it reshuffled again for the Class of 2030, when Yale fell to 4.2% and Penn rose to 5.8%.
Which Ivy League school is the easiest to get into?
Cornell is the easiest Ivy League school to get into, measured by acceptance rate alone. It admitted 8.38% of applicants for the Class of 2029, roughly one in 12, against 6.0% at Dartmouth, the next most accessible Ivy. Cornell confirmed 5,776 admits for the Class of 2030 but hasn't released its application total, and its rate for that cycle is likely to come in between 8.3% and 9.2%.
Cornell's higher rate comes down to applications per seat. It admitted 6,077 students for the Class of 2029, more than Harvard, Princeton and Dartmouth combined, and enrolled 3,827, the largest entering class in the Ivy League. With 72,523 applicants, Cornell drew about 19 applications for every seat, against roughly 29 at Harvard. Yield widens the gap. Only 63% of Cornell's admits enrolled, against 83.6% at Harvard, so Cornell had to make more offers to fill each seat. The academic bar is a separate question.
The easiest Ivy still turns away 11 of every 12 applicants
An 8.38% acceptance rate is more selective than almost every university in the United States, and it's a little over half of what Cornell's rate was a decade ago (15.1% for the Class of 2019). Cornell is the more attainable Ivy, but it's still a reach for almost everyone who applies. The middle half of enrolled students who sent scores came in between 1490 and 1550 on the SAT, and Cornell's readers expect a math score of 750 or higher in every college.
Is Cornell really easier to get into than the other Ivies?
It depends on the college. Cornell's 8.4% is an average across eight colleges and schools that each admit their own class, and for the Class of 2029 their rates ranged from about 5% at the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management to about 22% at the Nolan School of Hotel Administration. Engineering admitted about 7%, below the university average, and Arts and Sciences, which drew 40% of all applications, came in just under it at about 8%. Industrial and Labor Relations and Agriculture and Life Sciences both admitted more than 12%.
New York residents pay less at the three undergraduate contract colleges ($49,816 in tuition for 2026-27, against $73,946 elsewhere at Cornell), which draws many in-state applicants to them.
College or school | Applications | Admitted | Acceptance rate |
Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management | 5,877 | 315 | 5.4% |
Engineering | 20,257 | 1,341 | 6.6% |
Arts & Sciences | 29,003 | 2,294 | 7.9% |
Human Ecology | 3,173 | 305 | 9.6% |
Brooks School of Public Policy (fall 2024) | 1,289 | 132 | 10.2% |
Architecture, Art and Planning | 2,146 | 224 | 10.4% |
Agriculture and Life Sciences | 7,974 | 965 | 12.1% |
Industrial and Labor Relations | 1,384 | 217 | 15.7% |
Nolan School of Hotel Administration | 1,163 | 259 | 22.3% |
Cornell Total | 72,519 | 6,076 | 8.4% |
Cornell first-year acceptance rates by college and school, Class of 2029 (fall 2025 entry). Figures are mid-July admissions counts, so totals differ slightly from Cornell's Common Data Set. Brooks School of Public Policy figures are for fall 2024; Cornell's factbook doesn't yet show a fall 2025 figure. Dyson and Nolan together make up the SC Johnson College of Business. Source: Cornell University Factbook, Undergraduate Admissions.
The odds vary between colleges, but the academic screen doesn't. Every Cornell college opens with a first review that confirms the student can handle the work before anything else in the file counts, and the quantitative bar holds across all of them.
You've got to meet the academic bar, regardless of the school. Cornell Engineering may focus more on your advanced math classes, but they're all going to be looking for that 750 math score. Cornell's standard isn't so different across colleges.
Ritz B
Former Cornell Admissions Officer
In practice, Cornell is easier to get into than Harvard if you're applying to a college whose mission fits your record, and no easier at all if you're applying to Engineering or Arts and Sciences with a file that would be borderline anywhere in the Ivy League.
Which Ivy League school is the hardest to get into?
Harvard is the hardest Ivy League school to get into. Its 4.18% acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was the lowest in the Ivy League, as Harvard's has been in every cycle for the past ten years, including a record 3.2% for the Class of 2026. The Class of 2030 could break that streak. Princeton admitted just over 4%, with Columbia (4.23%) and Yale (4.24%) close behind, and Crimson estimates Harvard at 3.8% to 4.4%, which could place it on either side of Princeton when its figures arrive this fall.
Harvard's position comes from a fixed class size and a high yield. It received 47,893 applications for the Class of 2029, fewer than Columbia, Penn, Cornell or Yale, and admitted 2,003. Of those, 1,675 enrolled, a yield of 83.6% and Harvard's fifth straight cycle above 83%. When five in six admitted students accept, a school can make fewer offers for the same size class, which kept Harvard's rate the lowest in the Ivy League even in a year its applications fell 11%.
Princeton works the same way with a smaller class. It admitted 1,868 students from 42,303 applications for the Class of 2029, the second-smallest admitted group in the Ivy League after Dartmouth's, and finished within a quarter point of Harvard. For the Class of 2030, 76% of Princeton's admits enrolled.
The sharpest difference between Harvard's admits and those at the easiest Ivy shows up in the honors column. Among Crimson's profiled 2025/26 admits, 90% of Harvard admits reported at least one international-level honor on the Common App, against 68% of Cornell admits, while the two groups' average SAT scores were just 13 points apart.
Harvard has had the lowest acceptance rate in the Ivy League and Cornell the highest in every admissions cycle from the Class of 2020 through the Class of 2029.
Yale, Penn, Brown and Dartmouth: the middle tier
Yale, Penn, Brown and Dartmouth admitted between about 4.5% and 6% of applicants for the Class of 2029, and their order changes almost every cycle. For the Class of 2029 it ran Yale (4.60%), Penn (4.87%), Brown (5.65%), Dartmouth (6.0%). For the Class of 2030 it ran Yale (4.24%) and Brown (5.35%), then Penn and Dartmouth, tied at 5.8% and about a hundredth of a point apart.
Testing policy explains most of the reshuffling. Harvard, Yale, Brown and Dartmouth reinstated test requirements for the Class of 2029 and lost between 10.8% and 12.6% of their application volume that year, which pushed their rates up. Yale, Brown and Dartmouth's pools grew again for the Class of 2030, and their rates fell. Penn brought testing back a year later, for the Class of 2030, lost 15.5% of its applications and saw its rate climb from 4.87% to 5.8% while the other three were falling. Penn admitted almost the same number of students both years (3,530, then 3,575), so the higher rate came from a smaller pool.
Dartmouth has the smallest applicant pool in the Ivy League, 28,230 for the Class of 2029, and the smallest admitted class, 1,702. The two roughly balance out, so its rate of 6.0% is the highest in the middle group. Brown and Yale both admit around 2,300 to 2,400 students from pools of 42,000 to 50,000. Penn's 72,544 applications were the most of any Ivy that cycle, which kept its rate under 5% while it admitted 3,530 students.
Which Ivy League school is easiest to get into through early decision/action?
Dartmouth had the highest early decision acceptance rate in the Ivy League for the Class of 2029, at 21.6%, followed by Cornell at 18.8% and Brown at 18.0%. All three run binding early decision rounds, so you're committed to enrolling if you're admitted.
Columbia's binding round admitted 14.0%, and Yale's single-choice early action round admitted 10.8%. Harvard and Princeton no longer publish early-round figures, and Penn hasn't published an early decision rate since the Class of 2026.
School | Early round type | Early rate (2029) | Early rate (2030) |
Dartmouth | Early decision | 21.6% | Withheld |
Cornell | Early decision | 18.8% | Not released |
Brown | Early decision | 18.0% | 16.5% |
Columbia | Early decision | 14.0% | Not released |
Yale | Single-choice early action | 10.8% | 10.9% |
Penn | Early decision | Not published (est. 12.5%) | About 16% (calculated) |
Harvard | Restrictive early action | Withheld (8.7% for Class of 2028) | Withheld |
Princeton | Single-choice early action | Withheld | Withheld |
Early round acceptance rates, Class of 2029, with Class of 2030 early rates where released. Dartmouth withheld Class of 2030 early figures; Cornell's are due in fall 2026.
The ranking flips in the early round. Dartmouth, seventh overall, has the highest early rate, and its gap between rounds (21.6% early against 3.8% regular) is the widest in the Ivy League. Cornell's early advantage is smaller in ratio terms because its regular round already has the highest rate in the Ivy League. Crimson's own 2025/26 Ivy admits leaned on the early round as well. 237 of the 315, three in four, held an early acceptance from at least one school that cycle.
The early rate runs higher partly because the early pool is self-selected. Students who commit to one school in November tend to have finished applications and have a clear first choice. It also reflects institutional priorities, since recruited athletes, legacy applicants and other targeted groups make up a large share of early decision admits at most Ivies. Neither factor helps a student who applies early to the Ivy with the highest ED rate without a strong file and a true commitment to that school.
Are Stanford and MIT harder to get into than the Ivy League?
As it stands, Stanford is harder to get into than every Ivy League school. It admitted 3.8% of applicants for the Class of 2029 (2,302 of 60,646), below Harvard's 4.18%. MIT admitted 4.6% for the Class of 2029 and 4.58% for the Class of 2030 (1,299 of 28,349), level with Yale and then between Yale and Brown, though MIT's pool is smaller and more self-selected than any Ivy's because of its focus on science and engineering.
Duke admitted 4.7% for the Class of 2030, a lower rate than three of the six Ivies that have reported that cycle. The University of Chicago admitted 4.5% for the Class of 2029, below five of the eight Ivies that year. If your list is built on selectivity alone, "Ivy League" is a poor filter, and the Ivy Plus schools group is the better comparison set.
What the ranking doesn't tell you about your own odds
The acceptance rate ranking measures how many seats a school has relative to its applicant pool. Your own odds depend on how its admissions officers judge your file, and the Ivy most likely to admit you could sit anywhere on the list.
Crimson's track record shows what that looks like in practice. Our students received 45 Ivy League offers in 2015/16 and 395 in 2025/26, and nearly 1,740 across those eleven cycles, a rise that partly reflects our own growth.
Crimson students received 395 Ivy League offers in 2025/26 and, across the Ivy League and Stanford, were admitted at 7.4 times the rate of the overall applicant pool.
Where Crimson students got in
The 395 offers went to 315 individual students, and 55% of them applied from outside the US and Canada. Penn (95 offers) and Cornell (92) accounted for nearly half, in line with their larger classes, while Dartmouth accounted for 13. But 37 offers came from Harvard, the hardest Ivy by rate, and 67 from Columbia, the second-hardest. 59 of the 315 students (19%) held offers from two or more Ivies at the same time, rising to 28% when Ivy+ schools such as Stanford and MIT are included.
Students admitted to the hardest Ivies rarely treated the easiest one as a fallback. Of Crimson's 37 Harvard admits in 2025/26, only 8 had also applied to Cornell. The overlap ran the other way, with 34 of Crimson's Cornell admits having also applied to Harvard.
Crimson Ivy League acceptances 2025/26
School | Crimson acceptances 2025/26 |
Harvard | 37 |
Columbia | 67 |
Princeton | 25 |
Yale | 40 |
Penn | 95 |
Brown | 26 |
Dartmouth | 13 |
Cornell | 92 |
Total | 395 |
Crimson student acceptances by Ivy League school, 2025/26 cycle, alongside each school's Class of 2029 rank by acceptance rate. Counts are offers; a student admitted to two Ivies appears under each. Source: Crimson's live outcomes tracker.
Test scores don't follow the ranking
Among Crimson's profiled 2025/26 admits who reported an SAT, Dartmouth admits had the highest average (1,560) and Princeton (1,520) and Harvard (1,520) the lowest, the reverse of what the acceptance rate order would predict. The spread across all eight schools is just 39 points.
Average SAT of Crimson admits to Ivy League schools
School | Average SAT, Crimson admits | Admits with reported scores |
Dartmouth | 1560 | 12/13 |
Penn | 1550 | 78/95 |
Brown | 1550 | 21/26 |
Yale | 1540 | 27/40 |
Cornell | 1540 | 66/92 |
Columbia | 1530 | 42/67 |
Harvard | 1520 | 29/37 |
Princeton | 1520 | 20/25 |
Average SAT of Crimson students admitted to each Ivy, 2025/26 cycle, among profiled admits who reported a score on the Common App. Scores are self-reported. Dartmouth's figure rests on 12 students and should be treated as directional.
What admits to each Ivy had in common
The schools differ more in what fills the activity slots than in how many get filled. Crimson admits at every Ivy listed between 9.3 and 9.7 of the 10 Common App slots. The share reporting an international-level honor roughly tracks the selectivity order, from 90% at Harvard and 86% at Princeton down to 72% at Penn and 68% at Cornell.
Research turns that order upside down. Cornell admits listed research more often than admits to any other Ivy (80%), ahead of Harvard's 74%. The easiest Ivy by rate had the most research-heavy admits, and the hardest had the most decorated ones.
Profile of Crimson students admitted to Ivy League schools
School | Profiled admits | Reported an international-level honor | Listed research | Average activities listed (of 10) |
Harvard | 31/37 | 90% | 74% | 9.7 |
Columbia | 55/67 | 78% | 69% | 9.4 |
Princeton | 21/25 | 86% | 67% | 9.5 |
Yale | 34/40 | 82% | 71% | 9.6 |
Penn | 79/95 | 72% | 72% | 9.5 |
Brown | 22/26 | 77% | 68% | 9.3 |
Dartmouth | 11/13 | 75% | 65% | 9.4 |
Cornell | 77/92 | 68% | 80% | 9.4 |
Profile of Crimson students admitted to each Ivy, 2025/26 cycle, among admits with Common App data. Honors and research are self-reported on the Common App. Profiled counts are the denominators; Dartmouth (11) and Princeton (21) are small and should be treated as directional.
Why strong applicants still get turned down
A 1550 and a perfect transcript buy a careful read at every Ivy. What decides the file after that is specific to each school’s institutional priorities. Brown looks for kindness and a collaborative instinct, and its readers can turn down a technically perfect candidate who comes across as arrogant.
Cornell wants service and long-term commitment that benefits people beyond the student. Columbia's committee asks whether an applicant actually loves Columbia, and an application that skips the Core or rests on New York alone tends to come up short.
Harvard weighs how far a student has come from where they started, and a checklist of expected activities looks like every other file on the desk. Picking a school for its higher acceptance rate, without a real sense of what it values, is the surest way to waste a spot on your college list.
I'm not here deciding whether a student is smart. They're all smart. I'm not here deciding whether this is a strong application. Most likely it is, but how strong is their case for admission?
Jermaine D.
Former Columbia Admissions Officer
Frequently asked questions
Is Cornell a lesser Ivy because it has the highest acceptance rate?
No. Cornell's 8.38% acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 reflects the largest first-year class in the Ivy League (3,827 enrolled in fall 2025) and a yield of 63%. Its most selective schools admit at rates close to the rest of the Ivy League, 5.4% at Dyson and 6.6% at Engineering. The middle 50% of its enrolled students who sent scores came in at 1490 to 1550 on the SAT, against 1470 to 1550 at Brown and 1440 to 1550 at Dartmouth. Among Crimson's profiled 2025/26 admits, 80% of Cornell admits listed research on the Common App, the highest share of any Ivy and above Harvard admits (74%). Where Cornell admits trail is in international-level honors, which 68% reported against 90% at Harvard.
Can I use the easiest Ivy as a safety school?
No. A safety school is one where your profile sits well above the admitted range and the acceptance rate gives you a high probability of an offer. Cornell admits about one in 12 applicants and turns down students with perfect grades and scores every year. Treat every Ivy as a reach, and balance out the rest of your college list with targets and safeties where you'd be in the top half of admitted students.
Which Ivy has the highest early decision acceptance rate?
Dartmouth, at 21.6% for the Class of 2029, followed by Cornell at 18.8% and Brown at 18.0%. All three are binding, so nearly every early admit enrolls, which lets each school fill a large share of its class in December. Dartmouth withheld its Class of 2030 early figures, and Brown's fell to 16.5% for that cycle.
Is Penn getting easier to get into?
No. Penn's acceptance rate rose from 4.87% for the Class of 2029 to 5.8% for the Class of 2030 because applications fell 15.5% in its first test-required cycle, while the number of admits barely changed (3,530, then 3,575). Most of the drop likely came from students who would have applied without scores under the old test-optional policy, so the higher rate reflects a smaller pool and says little about Penn's standards.
Which Ivy League school has the fewest applicants?
Dartmouth, with 28,230 applications for the Class of 2029 and 28,863 for the Class of 2030. It also admits the smallest class in the Ivy League (1,702 on decision day for the Class of 2029), which is why its acceptance rate (6.0%, then 5.84%) stays mid-pack despite the small pool.
Are there schools with Ivy-level outcomes and higher acceptance rates?
Yes, and they often suit the "reachable but strong" slot on a list better than the least selective Ivy. Schools such as Rice (7.8% for the Class of 2029), Northwestern (7.4%) and Notre Dame (9%) admit at or near Cornell's rate with comparable outcomes in many fields. The New Ivies list covers the schools most often used this way.
If you want to know which Ivies your profile is actually competitive for, whatever their acceptance rates, Crimson's Ivy League admissions consulting team starts with a free assessment.
