Carleton College

Yes. Carleton is highly selective, admitting about 21.8% of applicants in the most recent cycle — roughly 1,480 offers out of nearly 6,800 applications, with about 518 students enrolling. It is unusually competitive for a school of just under 2,000 undergraduates, and admission turns on academic rigor, essays, recommendations, and personal qualities rather than any single number.

Carleton does not publish an average GPA — it reports class rank instead. Among enrolled first-years who submitted a rank, about 77% were in the top tenth of their high school class and 94% in the top quarter. There is no hard cutoff, but rigor of your course load, class rank, and academic GPA are each weighed as very important factors in the review.

No, Carleton is test-optional, so you can apply without scores. If you do submit, a 1490 sits squarely inside the competitive range: the middle 50% of enrolled first-years scored 1460–1530 on the SAT (32–35 ACT), with the 75th percentile at 1530. Scores are only 'considered' in the review, so a strong application can stand on the rest of the file.

Carleton offers binding Early Decision I and II, and applying early improves your odds. The two ED rounds together drew 760 applications and admitted 263 students — an early admit rate of roughly 35%, well above the 21.8% overall rate. Early Decision is binding, so apply this way only if Carleton is your clear first choice.

Yes — a lot. Carleton rates the application essay as a very important factor, the same top tier it gives to academic rigor, GPA, recommendations, extracurriculars, and personal character. With admission this holistic and competitive, the essay is one of the clearest places a strong applicant can stand out, so it is worth revising carefully.

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Tuition and required fees are about $75,672 per year, with on-campus food and housing adding roughly $19,314. Carleton meets 100% of demonstrated financial need: about 57% of first-years receive need-based scholarship or grant aid, with an average need-based package near $72,667, which substantially lowers the price many families actually pay.

Carleton leans strongly quantitative. Computer and information sciences is the single largest field at about 17% of degrees, and math and computer science together with the physical and biological sciences make up well over half of all majors. The social sciences and a broad slate of humanities programs round out the curriculum.

Absolutely — Carleton draws nationally, and about 79% of its students come from outside Minnesota. State residency is not an admission factor (geographical residence is only lightly considered), so where you live does not meaningfully help or hurt your odds; admission rests on academics, essays, recommendations, and personal qualities for in-state and out-of-state applicants alike.