Oberlin College acceptance rate and your odds of getting in

Oberlin College, a private college in Ohio, reports a 34% acceptance rate and sits in the selective band. In practice that means it admits a minority of applicants, so a strong application is judged against an applicant pool that is already self-selected.

Use this page to see what Oberlin College weighs, where it ranks among Ohio schools, and how a profile like yours is likely to land. Admitted students post a 75th-percentile SAT around 1430, a useful checkpoint for where your scores sit, though it is a reference range and not a cutoff.

Oberlin College application deadlines, 2026-27

What are my chances at Oberlin College with a 3.7 GPA and a 1440 SAT?

About 57% (Likely), by CollegeCalcAI's deterministic model, for an applicant with a 3.7 unweighted GPA and a 1440 SAT, the middle of Oberlin College's admitted range, applying Regular Decision without a hook. A 3.9 GPA with a 1520 SAT comes out near 70%. Courses, activities, essays and the application round move the number; the free calculator includes them.

Estimates, not guarantees. Get yours with your real courses and activities. Assistants and developers can fetch this table from the free API: /api/v1/colleges/oberlin-college.

Source: Oberlin College Common Data Set 2024-25. Every figure appears verbatim in the document. See how early rounds compare across colleges in the Early Decision rankings.

There is no formula that guarantees a spot at Oberlin College, but the applicants who get in tend to do the same four things. Here is what the numbers say each one looks like.

Oberlin College admitted 3,641 of the 11,039 students who applied for fall 2023, which works out to 33%. 779 enrolled. Only about 21% of admitted students enrolled, so the school admits several students for every seat it expects to fill, which is why its acceptance rate reads higher than its selectivity feels. Oberlin College enrolls about 2,887 undergraduates in total, 59% of them women, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS 2023 admissions and enrollment.

The middle 50% of admitted students at Oberlin College scored between 1360 and 1520 on the SAT (average 1447). On the ACT the middle 50% runs from 31 to 34. A score above 1520 puts you in the top quarter of admits and turns the test into an asset; a score below 1360 puts you in the bottom quarter, where the rest of the application has to carry more weight. Oberlin College is test-optional: scores are considered if you submit them but not required. Send a score at or above the middle of the admitted range; otherwise apply without one and let your transcript lead.

Source: College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), release 2026-06-10.

The factors that carry the most weight at Oberlin College are rigor of secondary school record, academic GPA, and application essay. Solid grades in a challenging schedule do most of the work here, with the rest of the application providing context. These ratings come from Oberlin College's reported Common Data Set, so the full chart below reflects what the school itself says it values, not a generic guess.

Oberlin College's published cost of attendance, before any aid, is roughly $87,404 per year. Tuition and fees alone are $67,366. What families actually pay is different: the average net price after grants and scholarships is $38,645 a year, and it ranges from $18,774 for families earning under $30,000 to $48,731 for families earning over $110,000. 10% of undergraduates receive a federal Pell Grant.

Source: College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), release 2026-06-10. Net price is what students receiving aid paid after grants, by family income.

Ten years after enrolling, the median Oberlin College student who received federal aid earns $58,343 a year, up from $38,871 at six years. 81% of first-time, full-time students graduate within six years, and 91% return for a second year. Among graduates who borrowed, median federal debt at graduation is $26,000; 31% of undergraduates take federal loans.

Source: College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), release 2026-06-10. Earnings cover students who received federal aid.

Among the 45 Ohio schools we track, Oberlin College ranks #3 most selective by acceptance rate. Schools like Denison University (17%) and Kenyon College (31%) sit nearby, which makes Ohio a useful frame for calibrating a balanced list.

Applicants targeting Oberlin College often weigh Brescia University, Fairfield University, and Hope International University, which sit at a similar level. Running the same profile against each one in the free calculator is the fastest way to see where you are a reach, a match, or a likely.

Acceptance rate, application counts, admitted test ranges, cost, and outcomes reflect publicly reported federal data (U.S. Department of Education: IPEDS 2023 and the College Scorecard) and each school's Common Data Set; figures are rounded and lag the current cycle by one to two years, so confirm deadlines and policies on the school's own site. The typical-admit GPA and SAT are CollegeCalcAI's modeled estimates. Estimates from CollegeCalcAI are a planning tool computed by a fixed, transparent model, not a guarantee of any admission decision.