Wellesley College
Admissions & acceptance rate
First-time freshman admissions: how selective the college is, and how many admitted students choose to enroll.
Graduation rate & outcomes
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Pell equity
Pell and non-Pell students graduate at nearly identical rates, a notably small equity gap.
Source: IPEDS Graduation Rates (GR) — Pell/SSL cohort, 2024 cohort.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 40 Title IV programs, 8 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 0 fail. 32 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing8 · 20.0%
- No Data32 · 80.0%
- Failing0 · 0.0%
Severity spectrum
Tiers band programs by how far graduate earnings sit above or below the benchmark, from Critical (below −15%) through Safe (above +25%). No data means earnings were privacy-suppressed.
Earnings premium gap
Graduate earnings versus the federal benchmark, worst gaps first.
Debt vs earnings
Median completer debt against median graduate earnings, highest burden first.
Accreditation status & history
Who accredits the institution, current standing, and any past actions.
New England Commission of Higher Education
Action history · 2
- Sep 2019Renewal of AccreditationNew England Commission of Higher Education
- Nov 2009Renewal of AccreditationNew England Commission of Higher Education
Tuition & cost
What families actually pay, broken down by family income.
Net price by family income
Negative values mean aid exceeds the published cost of attendance for that income band.
Federal aid volume & trends
Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.
In AY 2024–25, 604 students received $3.8M in Pell grants, alongside $4.9M in federal Direct Loans.
Pell recipients · 5-year trend
Loan volume by type · AY 2024–25
Loan awards count each loan type a student holds, not unique borrowers; one student may carry several (e.g. subsidized and unsubsidized), so the per-type figures are the reliable detail.
Student loan default rate
The share of student borrowers who default on federal loans within three years, against the national benchmark.
Of 240 borrowers who entered repayment, 1 (0.4%) defaulted within three years — below the 2.3% national rate.
Default rate vs national, by cohort
* Cohorts 2020 and later read near 0% because the federal COVID-19 payment pause (CARES Act) suspended defaults nationwide. These years reflect a national policy, not institutional performance; the 2019 cohort is the last measured under normal repayment.
Academic programs at Wellesley College
Top program areas ranked by completions.
Top program families by completions
Enrollment trends & demographics
Fall headcount, 12-month unduplicated enrollment, and student body composition.
Gender split
Race / ethnicity composition
Athletics & Title IX gender equity
How athletic participation, aid, and spending are split between men and women.
Men vs women · spending splits
Sport-by-sport · 14
Campus safety & crime statistics
Reported on-campus crimes over the last three years, including violence and hate crimes.
3-year trend
Criminal offenses by type
By location
- On campus5
Includes 4 in residence halls (a subset of on-campus, not added to the total).
VAWA offenses
Hate crimes by bias
- Religion1
Arrests vs disciplinary referrals
Residence-hall fires
- Bates Hall1 fireOtherDamage $0-$99
- Freeman Hall1 fireWellesley College Public Safety & Police Department received a report from a student regarding a small fire of an unidentified combustible object on the 1st-floor staircase. The intentionally set fire was extinguished upon arrival.Damage $0-$99
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
Wellesley College vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Wellesley College selected for federal comparison reporting.
A larger shape on any axis means this institution outperforms its peers on that dimension. For acceptance rate and net price, lower raw values are inverted so "more selective" and "more affordable" appear larger.
| Carnegie | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectWellesley College | 92% | — | 2,407 | $25,496 | Baccalaureate |
| 84% | 36.0% | 2,275 | $26,441 | Baccalaureate | |
| 94% | 8.3% | 2,164 | $17,716 | Baccalaureate | |
| 76% | 66.3% | 2,674 | $33,016 | Baccalaureate | |
| 68% | 75.7% | 1,983 | $26,706 | Baccalaureate | |
| 69% | 69.2% | 1,595 | $24,883 | Baccalaureate | |
| Peer group median | 80% | 66.3% | 2,220 | $25,969 |
Institutions like Wellesley College
Explore the federal data for institutions in Wellesley College's comparison group.
- BaccalaureateMassachusetts
Mount Holyoke College
Grad rate84%Admit rate36.0%Enrollment2,275Net price$26,441View data - BaccalaureateMassachusetts
Williams College
Grad rate94%Admit rate8.3%Enrollment2,164Net price$17,716View data - BaccalaureateMassachusetts
Stonehill College
Grad rate76%Admit rate66.3%Enrollment2,674Net price$33,016View data - BaccalaureateMassachusetts
Emmanuel College
Grad rate68%Admit rate75.7%Enrollment1,983Net price$26,706View data - BaccalaureateMassachusetts
Gordon College
Grad rate69%Admit rate69.2%Enrollment1,595Net price$24,883View data
Wellesley College Institutional Research office
The IR team responsible for the institution's federal reporting.
This page is a part of the Wellesley College website for its Office of Institutional Research. It provides links to resources such as the Factbook, Common Data Set, and data request forms. The relatively minimal page includes contact information and a navigation structure for further exploration of the office's resources.
Visit IR office page- Hui XiongAssistant Provost for Institutional Research & Assessment; Director, Office of Institutional Research
Common Data Set
Wellesley College's own annual Common Data Set: the most detailed self-reported reference for selectivity, cost, outcomes, and the student body.
Selectivity & Admissions
Admissions funnel
C18,506 applied → 1,258 admitted (14.7%) → 576 enrolled.
Selectivity
C1Highly selective — 14.7% acceptance rate.
SAT range (middle 50%)
C9Middle 50% SAT 1460–1540 (median 1500).
ACT range (middle 50%)
C9Middle 50% ACT 33–35 (median 34).
High-school class rank
C10Share of enrolled first-years by HS class-rank band.
Waitlist outcome
C22,214 offered a waitlist spot, 1,121 accepted it, 59 admitted (5.3% of those who stayed on).
What matters in admission
C7Relative importance of each admission factor.
Affordability & Value
Where grant aid comes from
H10% of need-based grant dollars come from the institution itself.
Graduate debt
H4/H537% of graduates borrowed; those who did owed $12,364 on average.
Outcomes & Equity
Graduation & retention
B6-year graduation rate 90%; first-year retention 95%.
Equity: Pell graduation gap
B4Pell-grant recipients graduate 2 pts above the overall rate (92% vs 90%).
Academic Experience
Class-size distribution
I367% of classes have under 20 students; 0% have 50+.
Faculty profile
IKey faculty indicators.
Degrees by discipline
JSTEM-dominant: ~34% of bachelor's degrees are in computing, engineering, math & sciences.
Student Body & Diversity
Undergraduate race/ethnicity
B2Undergraduate enrollment by race/ethnicity.
International students
B214% of undergraduates are international (nonresident).
Transfer Path
Transfer admissions
D1340 transfer applicants → 44 admitted (12.9%) → 18 enrolled — more selective than first-year admission.
Source publications
Frequently asked questions about Wellesley College
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Wellesley College.
What is the graduation rate at Wellesley College?
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What is the average net price at Wellesley College?
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Who runs Institutional Research at Wellesley College?
About the data on this page
Every figure comes from an official federal or public source. Here is each one and the release it is currently on.
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