Stanford’s undergraduate Class of 2026 acceptance rate dropped to a historic low of 3.68%, according to the University’s 2022-2023 Common Data Set. Notably, about a fifth of the frosh population is composed of domestic students (students residing in the United States) who identify as non-Hispanic white, a portion that has continued to decrease over the last few years. At an all-time high, women make up approximately 54% of all first-years.
Out of the competitive applicant pool of 56,378 prospective students, 2,075 applicants were admitted and 1,736 matriculated, with a yield rate of 83.66%.
The Class of 2026 had the lowest acceptance rate in the University’s history, dropping from 3.95% in the previous year. Compared to its peer institutions, Harvard was the only school with a lower acceptance rate than Stanford’s, accepting 3.19% of undergraduate applicants, as reported by the Harvard Crimson.
All 50 states are represented in the frosh class and international frosh come from 64 non-U.S. countries. About 21% of first-years identify as first-generation college students, an increase from the Class of 2025’s 18% statistic.
A majority of frosh come from public high schools, with 25% coming from private high schools and about 1% reporting a homeschooling background.
Stanford’s Class of 2026 is made up of about 54% women and 46% men, an increase in women from the Class of 2025’s 51% proportion. The University does not publicly report the proportion of the class that identifies as non-binary.
The frosh class’s largest racial/ethnic category is Asian with 29.14% identifying as such. Approximately 13.44% of students are listed under the Nonresident category, which categorizes students who are not citizens or nationals of the U.S., regardless of what race or ethnicity they may otherwise identify as.
The smallest categories include American Indian or Alaska Native with 0.98%, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander with 0.29%, and unknown race/ethnicity with 0.29%.
This article has been updated to include the proper acceptance rate for the class of 2026. The Daily regrets this error.