Early Decision
Swarthmore College Early Decision Acceptance Rate 2025-2026
PA
What is Swarthmore College's early decision acceptance rate?
Swarthmore College admitted 17.8% of its Early Decision applicants — 228 of 1,281 — according to its 2025-2026 Common Data Set. Everyone else in the same applicant pool was admitted at 6.4%, so the Early Decision rate was 2.8x the rest. These are the counts the school itself reported, not an estimate.
Source: Swarthmore College's Common Data Set 2025-2026.
Start your list with Swarthmore College on it →
What Swarthmore College reported · Common Data Set 2025-2026 · checked Oct 2026
Early Decision · 228 admitted of 1,281 applied
17.8%
Everyone else in the same pool
6.4%
Early Decision rate ÷ rest-of-pool rate
2.8x
This compares two rates the school published for two groups of applicants. The Early Decision pool is not a random slice of the applicants — recruited athletes, legacy applicants and QuestBridge matches are counted inside it — so this is a difference between the school’s two pools, not a multiplier on your own chances.
Regular Decision acceptance rate at Swarthmore College
Outside Early Decision, Swarthmore College admitted 749 of 11,714 applicants in the 2025-2026 cycle: 6.4%. That counts everyone who did not apply Early Decision.
Calculated from published counts · Common Data Set 2025-2026 · checked Oct 2026
Does applying early decision to Swarthmore College help?
On Swarthmore College's figures, Early Decision applicants were admitted at 2.8x the rate of everyone else: 17.8% against 6.4%. That does not mean applying early would lift your own odds that much. Recruited athletes, legacy applicants and QuestBridge matches sit inside that pool, so part of the gap is who applies early, not when.
Source: Swarthmore College's Common Data Set 2025-2026.
Is early decision at Swarthmore College binding?
Yes. Early Decision is binding wherever it is offered, Swarthmore College included: you may apply Early Decision to only one school, and if admitted you commit to attend and withdraw your other applications. The usual exception is an aid offer your family cannot afford, so check the costs on this page before you apply.
Source: Swarthmore College's Common Data Set 2025-2026.
When is Swarthmore College's early decision deadline?
For the 2026-27 application cycle, Swarthmore College set its Early Decision deadline at Nov 15, 2026. Its Early Decision II round closes Jan 4, 2027. Regular Decision applications are due Jan 4, 2027. Early Decision is binding, so compare the costs on this page before that date, not after an offer arrives.
Source: Swarthmore College's admissions website, 2026-27 cycle, checked Sep 27, 2026.
Admitted SAT · middle 50% · College Scorecard 2024
1490–1560
Half of admitted students scored inside this range. It is the admitted band, not a minimum and not a cutoff, and it covers the whole entering class rather than the Early Decision round alone.
What families actually pay (AY 2023–24)
Early Decision is binding, so accepting one ends the option of comparing two aid offers. These are the published averages before that choice is made.
Average paid by students receiving federal aid, by family income (College Scorecard).
International students are not eligible for U.S. federal aid, so they are not in this cohort and typically pay closer to the sticker price.
Across the 8 recorded cycles from 2017 to 2024, Swarthmore College's overall acceptance rate fell from 10.7% to 7.5%. That is the whole entering class — Early Decision, Early Action and Regular Decision together — not the Early Decision round on its own.
See the year-by-year series →Common Data Set — the school's own annual filing, published by the school itself for the cycle named beside each figure. Source: Swarthmore College’s 2025-2026 Common Data Set.