Research · College admissions · October 2026
Which Colleges Admit Students With a 3.5 GPA? What Their Own Numbers Show
As of October 2026: At the 33 colleges that publish the high school GPA of their first-year class, the share with a GPA of 3.50 to 3.74 runs from 1.0% at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to 28.8% at Lafayette College. At 22 of the 33, at least 10% of the class came in under a 3.75.
The first table shows the share of each college's first-year class in each GPA band. The second lists colleges whose published average GPA is 3.75 or lower. A 3.5 sits near the middle of the class there.
Analysis: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach, highschoolreach.com), October 2026. Figures and the table may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.
The findings, in plain English
A 3.5 is a real part of the class at most of these colleges. At 22 of the 33 colleges, at least 10% of the first-year class came in under a 3.75. Lafayette College reports 28.8% of its class in the 3.50 to 3.74 band. The University of Miami reports 26.7%. Case Western Reserve University reports 24.3%.
Even the most selective colleges take students under a 3.75. The University of Chicago reports 11.5% of its class below a 3.75. Stanford University reports 10.3%. Those two admit 4.8% and 3.9% of applicants. Harvard University reports 5.4% and Princeton University 3.8%. The band is small. It is not empty.
Three colleges leave almost no room below a 3.75. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reports 1.0% of its class under a 3.75. Georgia Institute of Technology reports 2.1%. The University of California-Santa Barbara reports 3.2%. All three admit a larger share of applicants than Stanford does. A 3.5 still sits far outside the middle there.
The share of each first-year class with a GPA under 3.75
Ranked by the share of the class below a 3.75 high school GPA.
| College | State | Share with a 3.50-3.74 GPA | Share under a 3.75 GPA | Admit rate | Reporting year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grambling State University | LA | 16.0% | 82.0% | 23.7% | 2019-20 |
| Lafayette College | PA | 28.8% | 67.5% | 31.5% | 2024-25 |
| Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University | FL | 20.4% | 45.7% | 21.1% | 2025-26 |
| University of Miami | FL | 26.7% | 39.7% | 18.5% | 2025-26 |
| Case Western Reserve University | OH | 24.3% | 35.3% | 28.7% | 2024-25 |
| Colgate University | NY | 23.3% | 31.5% | 12.0% | 2024-25 |
| University of Richmond | VA | 4.0% | 29.0% | 23.3% | 2024-25 |
| New York University | NY | 22.0% | 28.0% | 9.4% | 2024-25 |
| Colorado College | CO | 15.6% | 27.6% | 20.0% | 2024-25 |
| Emory University | GA | 21.2% | 24.2% | 11.1% | 2024-25 |
| Boston University | MA | 22.0% | 22.0% | 10.8% | 2024-25 |
| Reed College | OR | 14.0% | 20.9% | 27.2% | 2024-25 |
| University of California-San Diego | CA | 17.2% | 20.2% | 27.2% | 2024-25 |
| United States Air Force Academy | CO | 10.0% | 20.0% | 13.9% | 2022-23 |
| Villanova University | PA | 15.0% | 19.0% | 25.1% | 2024-25 |
| United States Military Academy | NY | 9.8% | 15.7% | 14.0% | 2024-25 |
| Carnegie Mellon University | PA | 11.3% | 14.7% | 11.4% | 2024-25 |
| California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo | CA | 10.2% | 14.5% | 29.8% | 2025-26 |
| University of Chicago | IL | 6.8% | 11.5% | 4.8% | 2024-25 |
| Washington University in St Louis | MO | 7.0% | 11.0% | 12.0% | 2024-25 |
| Stanford University | CA | 6.7% | 10.3% | 3.9% | 2024-25 |
| University of Pennsylvania | PA | 5.0% | 10.0% | 5.9% | 2024-25 |
| Vanderbilt University | TN | 6.8% | 8.5% | 6.3% | 2025-26 |
| Barnard College | NY | 6.0% | 8.0% | 8.0% | 2024-25 |
| Johns Hopkins University | MD | 4.8% | 7.7% | 7.6% | 2024-25 |
| University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | MI | 5.7% | 7.0% | 17.9% | 2024-25 |
| University of Florida | FL | 6.0% | 6.0% | 24.0% | 2024-25 |
| Northeastern University | MA | 4.0% | 5.7% | 5.6% | 2024-25 |
| Harvard University | MA | 4.1% | 5.4% | 3.5% | 2024-25 |
| Princeton University | NJ | 2.7% | 3.8% | 4.5% | 2024-25 |
| University of California-Santa Barbara | CA | 2.6% | 3.2% | 44.0% | 2025-26 |
| Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | GA | 1.1% | 2.1% | 16.5% | 2024-25 |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | NC | 1.0% | 1.0% | 18.7% | 2024-25 |
Each college's own Common Data Set, question C11. Those questions describe ENROLLED first-years, not admitted applicants. The reporting year differs by college and is shown. A college reporting 0.0 in a band is reporting none, which is different from not reporting the band. Admit rates are IPEDS Admissions 2023, the latest federal file.
Colleges whose average first-year GPA is 3.75 or lower
A 3.5 sits near or above the middle of the class at these colleges.
Each college's own published average high school GPA for enrolled first-years, on an unweighted 4.0 scale. Colleges that publish only a weighted average are left out, because the two scales are not comparable.
What the GPA bands actually describe
These bands come from a standard form most colleges fill in each year. They describe the students who enrolled. They do not describe the students who were admitted. An admitted class is a little stronger than an enrolled one, because the strongest admits often go elsewhere. So read each share as the class that showed up.
Scales differ. Some colleges report an unweighted 4.0 GPA. Some report a weighted GPA that can run above 4.0. Some recalculate a transcript using academic courses only. The second table holds unweighted averages alone, so the rows can be compared. The reporting year also differs by college. A 2019-20 row describes a class that started before the pandemic changed who applied where.
Where a 3.5 has the most room
The widest doors in the first table belong to colleges that are picky but not famous for it. Lafayette College reports 28.8% of its class in the 3.50 to 3.74 band. The University of Miami reports 26.7%, Case Western Reserve University 24.3% and Colgate University 23.3%. New York University and Boston University both report 22.0%.
The second table is the better list for a student holding a 3.5 right now. Arizona State University reports an average of 3.53 and San Jose State University 3.53. They admit 90.2% and 80.2% of applicants. Temple University reports 3.42 and the University of Arizona 3.43. A 3.5 is at or above the middle of those classes. That is a different thing from sitting in the bottom band of a class.
What a family should do with this
A GPA is one of several things a college reads. These tables show that no single GPA closes a list. The useful move is to sort a list by where a 3.5 sits in the class. It sits above the middle at the colleges in the second table. It sits inside a real band at the top of the first. It sits far outside at the bottom three.
Then check the test policy. A college that still reads scores gives a student with a 3.5 a second number to make the case with. Our test policy pages carry that answer, college by college and state by state.
Questions parents ask
Can you get into a good college with a 3.5 GPA?
At 22 of the 33 colleges, at least 10% of the first-year class came in under a 3.75.
Which colleges enroll the most students with a 3.5 GPA?
Lafayette College reports 28.8% of its class in the 3.50 to 3.74 band.
Do Ivy League colleges ever take a student under a 3.75?
Harvard University reports 5.4% and Princeton University 3.8%.
Method & sources: GPA bands and averages come from each college's own Common Data Set questions C11 and C12, which describe enrolled first-years rather than admitted applicants; the reporting year differs by college and is shown in each row. Only colleges that publish the figure appear, so this is not a ranking of all colleges. Admit rates are from the federal IPEDS Admissions file for the fall 2023 entering class, and a college's own page may show a newer number. The second table holds unweighted averages only.
This brief as data: /research/colleges-for-a-35-gpa.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).
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