Grinnell College
Grinnell, IA
Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, a town more than 35 miles from a city, with 1,729 undergraduates. Social sciences and biology are its signature fields: together they make up 43% of its bachelor's degrees, about three times their share across the colleges we cover. 88% of students finish within six years, and former students who are working earn a median of $62,830 ten years after starting.
Grinnell College admitted 1,266 of 9,988 applicants for the fall 2023 entering class (12.7%).
- Acceptance rate
- 12.7%
- Fall 2023 class
- Tuition and fees
- $68,106
- 2024–25 school year
- Paid after aid
- $17,648
- Average, students with aid
- ACT, middle 50%
- 31–34
Every figure on this page is published by the college or a federal survey, compiled by GoodGoblin, and carries the source it came from. They describe the fall 2023 entering class, a read on the school, not a prediction about any one applicant.
What Grinnell College is known for
Measured by the 528 bachelor's degrees it awarded in 2022–23, and what its graduates went on to earn.
Social sciences
27.3%
of its bachelor's degrees: three and a half times the 8.0% share across the colleges we cover.
Biology
15.2%
of its bachelor's degrees: about twice the 7.4% share across the colleges we cover.
- Computer Science6211.7% of degrees$109,892About the $107,009 national median
- Economics5410.2% of degrees$110,724+34% vs $82,686 nationally
- Biology438.1% of degrees$56,275About the $57,214 national median
- Political Science and Government407.6% of degrees$68,518+8% vs $63,293 nationally
- Sociology366.8% of degreesToo few graduates to publish
- Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology356.6% of degrees$53,105−19% vs $65,466 nationally
Source: the College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), field-of-study data. Degrees are bachelor's degrees awarded in 2022–23. Earnings are the median for 2017–18 and 2018–19 graduates, in 2024 dollars, working and not enrolled, four years after graduating. Shares across the colleges we cover count every bachelor's degree at the colleges with a page here.
The place
Where it is, how big it is, and how students live.
Setting
Remote town
Grinnell, IA
Undergraduates
1,729
Fall 2024
Type
Private, nonprofit
Baccalaureate college, arts and sciences focus
Living on campus
Half or more
of undergraduates live on campus
Students per faculty member
9 to 1
Fall 2024
International students
21%
of undergraduates, fall 2024
Source: the College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), including the Carnegie Classification and the federal locale code it publishes.
What stands out at Grinnell College
Three things Grinnell College published, ranked by how much each could change what you actually do, not by how impressive it looks. Every one describes a class that has already enrolled.
The admit rate fell from 24% to 13% between fall 2018 and fall 2023.
Both ends are measured rates for classes that have already enrolled: a rate that moved, not a forecast. The fall 2023 figure is the one at the top of this page.
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2018 to fall 2023
30% of the enrolled class sent an SAT.
The SAT band on this page describes that share of the class, not all of it. Another 21% sent an ACT. Grinnell College files test scores under “considered”.
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
Grinnell College asks for no supplemental essay.
Of the 1 prompt we track for this application, none is one you would have to write.
Source: the prompts we track for this application
Every figure, in full
The same measured fields on every one of these pages. Nothing is filled in where the school published nothing.
Acceptance rate
12.7%
1,266 admitted of 9,988 applicants
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
SAT, middle 50%
Reading 698–760Math 720–790
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
ACT, middle 50%
31–34
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
Enrolled students who sent an SAT
30%
Counted per test: a student may send both.
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
Enrolled students who sent an ACT
21%
Counted per test: a student may send both.
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
Where do you actually stand at Grinnell College?
The figures on this page describe a class that already enrolled. GoodGoblin reads them against your own transcript, scores, activities and budget, then builds the balanced list, the essay plan and the deadline calendar around what it finds.
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What Grinnell College costs
The published price first, then what students who received aid actually paid, by family income.
Tuition and fees for 2024–25 were $68,106, and the full cost of attendance, with housing, food and books, was $83,440. After grants and scholarships, students who received financial aid paid $17,648 a year on average.
Tuition and fees
$68,106
2024–25 school year
Full cost of attendance
$83,440
Tuition, fees, housing, food and books
Paid after aid
$17,648
Average, students who received aid
What students paid, by family income
Each bar is that figure as a share of the $83,440 full cost.
- Under $30k$9,970Typical public university: $10,013
- $30k–$48k$7,789Typical public university: $10,847
- $48k–$75k$9,669Typical public university: $13,703
- $75k–$110k$19,348Typical public university: $17,979
- Over $110k$37,725Typical public university: $22,475
Source: the federal College Scorecard. Tuition and cost of attendance are for the 2024–25 school year; colleges usually raise them each year. What students paid is the average net price for first-year students who received federal financial aid. Typical public university: the median across the 338 public universities on GoodGoblin, for in-state students, compiled by GoodGoblin from the same federal data.
Where it leads
Who finishes, who stays, and what they earn and owe afterwards.
Finish within six years
88%
Our colleges' median: 63%
Return for a second year
93%
Our colleges' median: 79%
Earnings after 10 years
$62,830
Our colleges' median: $57,440
Median debt at graduation
$17,500
Our colleges' median: $23,725
Source: the College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education). Six-year completion describes students who started in fall 2018; second-year return describes students who started in fall 2023; earnings describe students who started in 2009–10 and 2010–11, measured in 2020 and 2021, in 2022 dollars; debt describes federal loans of students who graduated in fiscal years 2020 and 2021. Medians are across the 1,034 colleges with a page here.
How the rate has moved
Two measured admit rates from the federal survey, the years apart it reports them. A rate that moved, not a forecast.
Between fall 2018 and fall 2023 the admit rate fell from 24% to 13%.
What Grinnell College says it weighs
The school's own words, from the form it fills in every year. Ranked as it ranks them.
- Essayrequired
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
- Course rigorrequired
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
- GPAconsidered
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
- Test scoresconsidered
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
- Recommendationsconsidered
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
- Class rankconsidered
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
Essays on this application
1 essay prompt on the application: 1 is optional.
Published deadlines
Each date is read from the college's own materials and re-checked on a schedule.
More colleges on the record
Each of these pages carries the same measured figures and sources.
Other colleges in Iowa
Closest acceptance rates in the same state.
Colleges with a similar acceptance rate
Closest acceptance rates anywhere in the country.
The GoodGoblin College Data Report: five findings counted across 1,034 colleges ›
Build the list this school belongs on.
The figures on this page describe a class that already enrolled. GoodGoblin reads them against your own transcript, scores, activities and budget, then builds the balanced list, the essay plan and the deadline calendar around what it finds.
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