How to Get Into Colby College: Acceptance Rate & Strategies

July 21, 2025

Colby College may not be a household name in exactly the same way as other schools boasting single-digit acceptance rates (e.g., Harvard, Yale, etc.), but make no mistake鈥攖his small liberal arts school in Waterville, Maine, is among the finest colleges in the country. Test-optional since the 1960s, Colby gives every single application a genuinely holistic review. However, all prospective applicants need to be acutely aware of the extreme rise in selectivity at this institution over the past two decades. While Colby’s acceptance rate was above 20% as recently as 2015, it has plunged to single digits in the past decade.

So, why is Colby College so hard to get into? To give future Colby applicants a better sense of their admissions chances, this blog will touch on the following topics:

Colby College acceptance rate for 2025 (plus how to predict your chances with our free admissions calculator)
Colby College Early Decision acceptance rate
SAT, ACT, and class rank of accepted applicants
Colby admissions trends for the Class of 2028
Colby College鈥檚 system for rating applicants
A look at the demographics of current Colby College undergraduates
The percentage of accepted students that attend Colby College (yield rate)
Tips for applying to Colby College
How to assess whether applying to Colby College is worth your time (the app is free!)

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Colby College Acceptance Rate 鈥� 2025

Colby received 20,144 applications for a place in the Class of 2029, an all-time high. Though Colby hasn’t yet released the official acceptance numbers, we know that the acceptance rate was 7%, which means that about 1,410 students were admitted.

Historical Colby acceptance rates are as follows:

	Applicants	Admits	Acceptance Rate
Class of 2028	19,188	1,275	6.6%
Class of 2027	17,787	1,142	7%
Class of 2026	16,891	1,258	7.4%
Class of 2025	15,857	1,279	8%

Colby College Early Decision Acceptance Rate

With an ED I deadline on November 15 and an ED II deadline on January 3, Colby offers two opportunities for students to apply via binding Early Decision. The school has not released recent ED numbers, but looking at past statistics, one can see that applying ED is a massive admissions advantage at Colby. Several cycles ago, the ED acceptance rate was 43% while the overall acceptance rate was 10% (including ED).

What class rank do you need to get accepted to Colby?

Accepted Colby students are insanely accomplished, with nearly 95% of the Class of 2029 hailing from the top decile of their graduating class. This is in line with the previous year.

What is the minimum SAT or ACT score for Colby?

Of students admitted to the Class of 2029 (different from enrolled), the median SAT score was 1520 while the median ACT score was 34. These median scores have held steady compared to the previous year.

Admissions Trends & Notes

Last year, applications increased by over 7%.
15% of accepted 2024-25 freshmen are the first in their families to attend college.
Admitted Class of 2029 students hailed from all 50 states and more than 82 countries.
Admitted Class of 2029 students came from more than 870 high schools.

How Colby College Rates Applicants

In conducting their evaluation of each applicant, Colby College views four factors as 鈥渧ery important鈥� to the admissions process: rigor of high school course load, GPA, recommendations, extracurricular activities, and character/personal qualities. The five factors labeled as 鈥渋mportant鈥� are class rank, the essay, extracurricular activities, and talent/ability.

Straight from the Colby admissions office:

鈥淎dmission is highly selective, and evaluation is based on a holistic, contextual assessment of the candidate鈥檚 application.鈥�
鈥淭o ensure a common educational base, a minimum of 16 academic preparatory units is strongly recommended, including four years of English, three of a single foreign language, three of college preparatory mathematics, two of history or social studies, two of laboratory science, and two years of other college preparatory electives. Most successful candidates for admission present at least 20 academic units.鈥�
鈥淭he College actively seeks applicants who exemplify academic excellence, have special qualities or talents to contribute to the Colby community, and represent diverse geographical, racial, ethnic, religious, and economic backgrounds.鈥�

Who Actually Gets Into Colby?

Let鈥檚 look at the demographics of the Colby College undergraduate student body. Geographically, the following is known about current Colby students:

Last year, enrolled students came from 48 states plus the District of Columbia.
Unsurprisingly, the New England region accounts for the greatest number of undergrads (typically around 50%).
Current international students hail from 80+ countries around the world, and comprise about 10% of the student population.
30% of the student body identify as people of color.

In terms of ethnic identity, the breakdown of a recent class is as follows:

White: 57%
Asian: 10%
Hispanic: 8%
African American: 5%
Two or More Races: 6%
International: 9%
Unknown: 4%

A look at the gender split reveals that the school enrolls slightly more women than men:

Men: 49%
Women: 51%

Yield Rate

Colby College鈥檚 yield rate鈥攖he percentage of accepted students who elect to enroll, divided by the total number of students who are admitted鈥攊s 49%, and has been rising steadily over the past few years. This places them in the same ballpark as other top liberal arts schools such as Williams College, Pomona College, and Swarthmore College.

Tips for Applying

If you plan on joining the 20,000 Colby College hopefuls for the next admissions cycle, you should know the following:

If Colby College is your top choice, you鈥檒l want to strongly consider .
Colby will superscore all exams, including the ACT, and will accept and include the individual section retest results as part of the superscore.
This school does not offer interviews to prospective applicants.
With no interviews, your counselor and teacher recommendations will be key. Visit our blog for聽tips on requesting high school letters of recommendation.
Colby College does not consider 鈥�demonstrated interest鈥� so you will not be judged on whether or not you made a campus visit, contacted an admissions officer, etc.
You鈥檒l need to submit a聽Mid-Year Report in late February so remember to keep those grades up throughout your senior year of high school.
Colby is a rare liberal arts school that does not offer any supplemental essays or short answer questions.
Colby accepts either the or .

Should I apply to Colby?

If you have near-perfect grades and impressive extracurricular achievements, you are a viable candidate for admission, if you chose not to report your test scores. We can鈥檛 stress strongly enough how important it is to apply to Colby early decision, as it gives you a sizable edge in the admissions process.

Colby College Acceptance Rate 2025 – Final Thoughts

Whenever you are aiming for a school with a sub-10% acceptance rate, you also need to have a proper mix of 鈥渢arget鈥� and 鈥渟afety鈥� schools on your college list. More on creating a balanced college list can be found here.

Ready to start building your applications? Consider checking out the following:

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College Admissions

Dave Bergman

Dave has over a decade of professional experience that includes work as a teacher, high school administrator, college professor, and independent educational consultant. He is a co-author of the books The Enlightened College Applicant (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016) and Colleges Worth Your Money (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020).