College profile
Babson College
MA · Private nonprofit · Large suburb · 7,995 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- Almost everyone who starts here finishes. 93% graduate within six years — the standard federal measure. Nationally about a third of students who start a bachelor's never finish one, and an unfinished degree is the most expensive outcome in this decision: the debt stays, the credential doesn't.
- The payoff holds even at full price: roughly 4× over a decade. With no aid at all — the full ~$80,192/yr — a decade of median earnings (~$123,938/yr) still runs about 4× the four-year cost. This payoff doesn't depend on qualifying for anything.
- The campus itself adds earnings power. Opportunity Insights tracks it: only about 4% of students arrive from the bottom income fifth, but those who do reach the top fifth by their 30s at a 68% rate — a strong sign the outcomes here are the campus, not just the intake.
- Ask the submit question deliberately. This college is test-optional — but at many such colleges, applicants who submit strong scores are admitted at meaningfully higher rates. “Optional” is a strategy decision, not a pass.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Parent/student verdict
SelectiveSelective but achievable for strong students. A significant upfront investment that pays back via strong 10-yr earnings (~$123,938).
Best for
- Strong academic profiles — admitted students cluster in the top test and GPA tiers (bands above)
- Families wanting a small undergraduate experience
- A long-term payoff that holds even at full price — ten years at the $123,938 median runs about $918K ahead of four years at the ~$80,192/yr sticker (aid recipients average ~$40,514/yr)
The reality
- You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 1380, or ACT below 30, or unweighted GPA below ~3.80 (test bands are the school's own; the GPA floor is our estimate, not a published figure)
- With selective universities, build a balanced college list of Reaches, Targets, and Safeties ⓘ
- High cost — full price is ~$80,192/yr without aid, and aid-receiving families still average ~$40,514/yr — verify the major's earnings track record before committing
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
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Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.
Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
The real cost
What Babson College actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Babson College's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$919K ahead at full price +$1.1M with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at Babson College
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Babson College actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Babson College's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Business Administration, Management and Operations. | $107,520 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantBabson College is a private nonprofit four-year college in MA. It admitted 20% of applicants (7,995 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Middle 50% of admitted students: SAT 1380–1500, ACT 30–33.
Cost: about $40,514 a year on average with aid, $80,192 a year at full price.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $123,938 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $1,077,324 ahead with aid, $918,612 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Business Administration, Management and Operations ($107,520).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 4% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 68% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/babson-college.json