Rutgers University–New Brunswick

Rutgers–New Brunswick admitted about 65.3% of applicants in the most recent cycle, taking roughly 28,300 admits from more than 43,000 applications and enrolling around 7,700 first-year students. That makes it moderately selective overall, but admission to in-demand programs like the School of Engineering, the business school, and the Honors College runs more competitive than the university-wide rate.

Not especially, by selective-university standards — Rutgers admits about 65.3% of applicants, so a solid record gives most New Jersey students a real shot. The two factors weighed as very important are the rigor of your high school course load and your academic GPA, and among the small share of enrolled first-years who reported a class rank, 66% landed in the top quarter and 92% in the top half of their class.

Rutgers does not publish an average high school GPA in its Common Data Set, so there is no official cutoff — but academic GPA and the rigor of your courses are both rated very important in admissions. Among the roughly 14% of enrolled first-years who reported a class rank, 30% were in the top tenth and 66% in the top quarter, so competitive applicants generally carry strong grades in a demanding schedule.

The middle 50% of enrolled first-years scored between 1270 and 1480 on the SAT and 28 to 33 on the ACT, with median marks around 1380 and 31. Rutgers is test-optional, so you can apply without scores and still receive full consideration; a score in or above those ranges strengthens an application but is weighed only as a 'considered' factor.

Yes. Rutgers is test-optional, so you can apply without submitting an SAT or ACT score and still receive full admission consideration. For students who do submit, standardized test scores are weighed as a 'considered' factor — below the very important rigor of your course load and GPA — and the middle 50% of enrolled first-years scored 1270–1480 on the SAT and 28–33 on the ACT.

Somewhat counterintuitively, out-of-state applicants are admitted at a higher rate than New Jersey residents. In the most recent cycle, Rutgers admitted 72.0% of out-of-state applicants (6,928 of 9,625) and 70.7% of international applicants (3,345 of 4,730), compared with 62.3% of in-state applicants (18,053 of 28,992). The overall rate is 65.3%. Non-residents make up only about 9% of enrolled undergraduates, not because admission is harder but because most applicants are from New Jersey in the first place.

Annual tuition and required fees run about $17,929 for New Jersey residents and $37,441 for out-of-state students. Roughly 35% of first-years receive need-based grant aid, with an average aid package near $14,373, and New Jersey's Garden State Guarantee and Rutgers' Scarlet Guarantee cover tuition and mandatory fees for eligible in-state students.

Business and marketing is the single largest field at about 21% of bachelor's degrees, followed by computer and information sciences and engineering at roughly 11% each. The health professions, the biological and life sciences, the social sciences, and psychology round out the most popular programs at the university.