Washington University in St. Louis acceptance rate and your odds of getting in

With an acceptance rate near 12%, Washington University in St. Louis is a highly selective private college in Missouri. Because it turns away most applicants, admission turns on the strength of your whole profile rather than any one number.

Use this page to see what Washington University in St. Louis weighs, where it ranks among Missouri schools, and how a profile like yours is likely to land. Admitted students post a 75th-percentile SAT around 1550, a useful checkpoint for where your scores sit, though it is a reference range and not a cutoff.

What are my chances at Washington University in St. Louis with a 3.9 GPA and a 1540 SAT?

About 22% (Reach), by CollegeCalcAI's deterministic model, for an applicant with a 3.9 unweighted GPA and a 1540 SAT, the middle of Washington University in St. Louis's admitted range, applying Regular Decision without a hook. A 4.0 GPA with a 1570 SAT comes out near 24%. 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/washington-university-in-st-louis.

Source: Washington University in St. Louis Common Data Set 2025-26. Every figure appears verbatim in the document. See how early rounds compare across colleges in the Early Decision rankings.

Here is how to get into Washington University in St. Louis, built from what its admitted class actually looks like and what the school says it weighs.

For the fall 2023 entering class, Washington University in St. Louis received 32,240 applications and admitted 3,855, an acceptance rate of 12%. 1,828 enrolled. Roughly 47% of admitted students enrolled, a typical yield for a school in this range. Washington University in St. Louis enrolls about 7,857 undergraduates in total, 54% of them women, with a student-to-faculty ratio of 7 to 1.

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

Admitted students at Washington University in St. Louis post SAT scores of 1500 to 1570 in the middle 50%, with an average of 1530. On the ACT the middle 50% runs from 33 to 35. A score above 1570 puts you in the top quarter of admits and turns the test into an asset; a score below 1500 puts you in the bottom quarter, where the rest of the application has to carry more weight. Washington University in St. Louis 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.

In its review, Washington University in St. Louis leans most on rigor of secondary school record, academic GPA, and application essay. At this level of selectivity, the difference between admits is rarely the transcript alone; essays, recommendations, and a coherent story matter. These ratings come from Washington University in St. Louis's reported Common Data Set, so the full chart below reflects what the school itself says it values, not a generic guess.

The full sticker price at Washington University in St. Louis (tuition, fees, housing, food, books) is about $88,488 a year. Tuition and fees alone are $65,790. What families actually pay is different: the average net price after grants and scholarships is $21,786 a year, and it ranges from $1,716 for families earning under $30,000 to $42,170 for families earning over $110,000. 18% 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.

Median earnings for Washington University in St. Louis students ten years after entry are $86,182 ($78,073 at the six-year mark). 94% of first-time, full-time students graduate within six years, and 95% return for a second year. Among graduates who borrowed, median federal debt at graduation is $17,500; 12% 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 35 Missouri schools we track, Washington University in St. Louis ranks the most selective by acceptance rate. Nothing else in the state is harder to get into; the next tier down includes College of the Ozarks at 12%.

Build around Washington University in St. Louis with peers at a comparable selectivity, such as Carnegie Mellon University, Haverford College, and College of the Ozarks. 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.