Home › Colleges › Hillsdale College

🎓 College profile

Hillsdale College

MI · Private nonprofit · Distant town · 2,773 applicants 2023

21% admit rate SAT 1340–1510

🧭 A parent's read

  • Kids finish — on time. 90% graduate in four years. Nationally, barely half do — and a fifth year elsewhere quietly adds $30–70k to the real price. On-time completion is the most underrated ROI number in this decision.
  • 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.

Get your child's odds at Hillsdale College Free Family Decision Report — Reach / Match / Likely + your real net price. Hillsdale College starts already on the list. Start →

🎯 Parent/student verdict

Strong target

Selective but achievable for strong students.

✅ Best for

  • Strong academic profiles — admitted students cluster in the top test and GPA tiers (bands above)
  • Students drawn to Social Sciences or Biological & Biomedical Sciences (the two biggest majors)
  • Families wanting a small liberal-arts experience

🎯 The reality

  • Bottom-quartile academic profile if: SAT below 1340, or ACT below 30, or unweighted GPA below ~3.80 (admitted-class quartiles; GPA floor is a calibrated heuristic where CDS not yet on file)
  • With selective universities, build a balanced college list of Reaches, Targets, and Safeties ⓘ

Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price by income, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.

🏛️ Institutional snapshot

What kind of college is this?

Carnegie classification
Baccalaureate Colleges: Arts & Sciences Focus
Total enrollment
1,573
1,000 - 4,999
TuitionThe published full price before any aid. Families who don't qualify for need-based aid — common above ~$110K income — pay this, minus any merit scholarships.
$33,189
flat rate (no in/out-of-state split)

⚠️ Sticker price isn't every family's price. Lower- and middle-income families often pay materially less after grants; higher-income families frequently pay close to sticker unless the college offers merit scholarships. Check the school's own net-price calculator for your number.

Admit rateThe share of applicants a college accepts. Useful context, but your student's odds depend on their own grades and scores, not the average.
20.6%
Highly selective
SAT middle 50%The middle half of enrolled students scored in this range — a quarter scored BELOW the low end and still got in, and a quarter scored above the high end. Above the top number is a genuine strength; below the bottom isn't automatic rejection.
1340–1510
EBRW + Math composite
ACT middle 50%The middle half of enrolled students scored in this range — a quarter scored BELOW the low end and still got in, and a quarter scored above the high end. Above the top number is a genuine strength; below the bottom isn't automatic rejection.
30–33
composite
Test policyApplicants choose whether to send SAT/ACT scores. At many such colleges, students who submit strong scores are still admitted at higher rates.
Test-optional
2023

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.

🎓 High-school GPA

Hillsdale College — College Profile page, "Admissions Profile, Fall 2024" ↗

As published by the college in its Common Data Set / admissions data (2024-25) (source linked above). GPA basis (weighted vs. unweighted vs. 4.0-scale) varies by college and is labeled above.

📊 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).

4-year completionThe share of students who finish a bachelor's in four years. Nationally barely half do — and a fifth year quietly adds a full extra year of cost to the real price.
90%

📚 What students study here

Most popular majors at Hillsdale College

Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Hillsdale College actually graduates — not just what it markets.

1. Social Sciences
70 degrees · 29.7%
Economics + poli sci sub-disciplines pay much more than sociology + anthropology.
2. Biological & Biomedical Sciences
51 degrees · 21.6%
Many bio majors → med school / grad school. Direct-employment bio roles are lower-paid than that pipeline.
3. Business, Management, & Marketing
44 degrees · 18.6%
Broad set of corporate roles. Finance + consulting pay top, accounting + HR pay middle, sales spread is wide.
4. English Language & Literature
39 degrees · 16.5%
Writing-heavy roles. Variance is huge — corporate technical writers pay 2× journalists.
5. History
32 degrees · 13.6%
Historians are rare; most grads go into adjacent fields — teaching, law, museum/archival, policy.

Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →

Alternatives to Hillsdale College

Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.

🏆 Better merit-aid options
These similar-selectivity schools publish merit scholarships your family can plan around — your kid’s stats could unlock real scholarship dollars.
University of Alabama in Huntsville
AL · Public
39 stats-based merit scholarships
The University of Alabama
AL · Public
21 stats-based + 2 competitive scholarships
Mississippi State University
MS · Public
18 stats-based + 1 competitive scholarships
🛡️ Safer in-state options
Same state and similar selectivity, but with a more forgiving admit rate — useful safety / match anchors.
Michigan State University
MI · Public
84% admit rate (vs 21% here)

⚖️ Or compare any college side-by-side

Deciding on Hillsdale College?

Get the full picture in one free report — your child's Reach / Match / Likely odds and your real net price, for Hillsdale College and every other college on your list.

Get your child's odds at Hillsdale College →

Score-odds calculator · Improve the score first · Find merit aid

For Parents

📬

Get alerts when Hillsdale College's numbers change

New admit rates, costs, and outcomes — a few alerts a year, no spam. Your email also saves your list across devices.

Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.

🎯 Get your child's odds →