Frequently Asked Questions about How We Determine College of Admissions

How do you determine the college of admission?

The information you provided in your application was carefully taken into consideration when we completed our review of your application—including first-choice college, alternate college of interest, and indicated majors of interest.

We considered you for admission for the colleges selected on your application. If we are unable to admit you to one of the colleges listed, you are automatically considered for admission to all other U of M colleges that are a good fit with your academic interests and preparation and other information you provided. Our admissions decisions are based on a comprehensive, individualized review of your application, the overall strength of all the applications received, and the number of spaces available in each of the University's freshman-admitting colleges.

Our programs offer an array of exceptional majors, which you will find listed at majors.umn.edu


How do you select students for admission?

Students admitted to the University are selected from a highly competitive group of applicants with extraordinary academic and extracurricular achievements, based on a very careful, individualized review of each student's application. The University admits students directly to a freshman-admitting college, based on the student's choices as indicated in the application, the student's academic preparation, and the additional information included in the student's application materials. Students admitted to the University have not only demonstrated the preparation necessary for success at the University, but have demonstrated the ability to take full advantage of the unique and significant opportunities we offer undergraduate students.


College-by-College Admission

Competitive Admission Rate

Admission to the University of Minnesota Twin Cities is highly competitive. For example, for Fall 2023 admission, we received more than 39,000 applications for a freshman class of approximately 6,700 students. While we were very grateful for the strong interest in the University of Minnesota, the number of applications submitted and the strength of the applicant pool has created a competitive admissions situation.

Please note, for Fall 2023, due to a significant increase in the number of highly competitive applications for the School of Nursing, admission to the nursing program was especially competitive.

 


Academic Profile of Admitted Students

Academic Profile of Fall 2023 Admitted Freshman Applicants by College

This table provides a general overview of the middle 50 percentile high school rank, high school unweighted grade point average, and standardized test scores of freshman applicants admitted for Fall 2023.

Overall, the middle 50 percent of students admitted for Fall 2023:

  • Had a high school rank percentile between 76 and 96
  • Had an unweighted calculated high school grade point average between 3.57 - 3.96
  • Scored between 27 and 32 on the ACT*
  • Scored between 1340 and 1490 on the SAT*

Please note the information presented in the table is a composite picture of admitted freshman applicants. These are not admission criteria.

  • Admission decisions are based on an individual, overall assessment of each application.
  • Applicants are first considered for admission to the colleges listed in their application, in the order in which they are listed. Then, applicants are automatically considered for other U of M freshman-admitting colleges that may be a good match with their academic interests and preparation.

For complete information on our application review factors, please see our admissions overview at z.umn.edu/review.


Styled Content

Middle 50 Percentile of Fall 2023 Admitted Freshman

What does that mean? Middle 50% represents the academic components (GPA, test scores, class rank) of half of the students admitted, though students are admitted with academic scores above and below this range.

High School Rank Percentile (if provided) Unweighted High School GPA ACT Composite * SAT Composite *
Carlson School of Management 85 - 96 3.76 - 3.97 28 - 32 1340 - 1460
College of Biological Sciences 85 - 98 3.75 - 4.00 28 - 33 1350 - 1490
College of Design 75 - 94 3.54 - 3.92 26 - 31 1260 - 1430
College of Education and Human Development 70 - 91 3.47 - 3.88 25 - 29 1220 - 1390
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences 69 - 93 3.38 - 3.91 26 - 31 1280 - 1450
College of Liberal Arts 69 - 93 3.44 - 3.89 27 - 32 1310 - 1460
College of Science and Engineering 84 - 98 3.70 - 3.99 29 - 34 1380 - 1510
School of Nursing 86 - 98 3.84 - 4.00 27 - 32 1300 - 1450

*Please note: the University of Minnesota Twin Cities will not be requiring an ACT or SAT score for admissions through the Fall 2025 term. Learn more about our ACT/SAT policies.

Understanding the table

Middle 50% Percentile - This represents the middle half of the admitted students’ academic components (GPA, standardized test scores, and class rank) that fall between the ranges listed. While this range represents half of the admitted cohort, students are admitted with scores both above and below this range

Core Academic GPA - We calculate a core academic GPA for each applicant using the grades for English, math, science, social science and foreign language courses reported. This provides a standard view of a school’s grading scale, which can vary greatly from school to school. Applicants do not need to calculate their own core GPA. Note, in our holistic review, we also consider an applicant’s school-supplied GPA for all courses on their academic record.  Additional weighting for advanced coursework (honors, AP, IB etc.) is not included on core GPA, but is always considered as part of the academic rigor.

ACT/ SAT Score - The ACT and SAT score ranges listed in this table represent the students who chose to include a test score on their Fall 2023 application. Nearly 50% of students applied using a test score for Fall 2023.