Smith College
Northampton, MA
Smith College is a private, women's liberal arts college in Northampton, Massachusetts, a small city, with 2,544 undergraduates. Social sciences and interdisciplinary studies are its signature fields: together they make up 26% of its bachelor's degrees, two and a half times their share across the colleges we cover. 89% of students finish within six years, and former students who are working earn a median of $64,027 ten years after starting.
Smith College admitted 1,947 of 9,869 applicants for the fall 2023 entering class (19.7%).
- Acceptance rate
- 19.7%
- Fall 2023 class
- Tuition and fees
- $65,178
- 2024–25 school year
- Paid after aid
- $27,579
- Average, students with aid
- ACT, middle 50%
- 32–34
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 Smith College is known for
Measured by the 855 bachelor's degrees it awarded in 2022–23, and what its graduates went on to earn.
Social sciences
17.7%
of its bachelor's degrees: about twice the 8.0% share across the colleges we cover.
Interdisciplinary studies
8.7%
of its bachelor's degrees: about three times the 2.9% share across the colleges we cover.
- Research and Experimental Psychology809.4% of degrees$51,267−8% vs $55,695 nationally
- Data Science627.3% of degreesToo few graduates to publish
- Political Science and Government607.0% of degrees$68,916+9% vs $63,293 nationally
- English Language and Literature455.3% of degrees$52,938+9% vs $48,590 nationally
- Biology455.3% of degrees$63,133+10% vs $57,214 nationally
- Economics455.3% of degrees$88,067+7% vs $82,686 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
Small city
Northampton, MA
Undergraduates
2,544
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
8 to 1
Fall 2024
International students
14%
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 Smith College
Three things Smith 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 31% to 20% 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
33% of the enrolled class sent an SAT.
The SAT band on this page describes that share of the class, not all of it. Another 15% sent an ACT. Smith College files test scores under “considered”.
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
Families paid $27,579 on average after aid.
Averaged across students who received federal aid: the price after grants and scholarships, not the sticker price.
Source: the College Scorecard
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
19.7%
1,947 admitted of 9,869 applicants
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
SAT, middle 50%
Reading 718–770Math 690–770
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
ACT, middle 50%
32–34
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
Enrolled students who sent an SAT
33%
Counted per test: a student may send both.
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
Enrolled students who sent an ACT
15%
Counted per test: a student may send both.
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
Where do you actually stand at Smith 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 Smith College costs
The published price first, then what students who received aid actually paid, by family income.
Tuition and fees for 2024–25 were $65,178, and the full cost of attendance, with housing, food and books, was $86,030. After grants and scholarships, students who received financial aid paid $27,579 a year on average.
Tuition and fees
$65,178
2024–25 school year
Full cost of attendance
$86,030
Tuition, fees, housing, food and books
Paid after aid
$27,579
Average, students who received aid
What students paid, by family income
Each bar is that figure as a share of the $86,030 full cost.
- Under $30k$1,363Typical public university: $10,013
- $30k–$48k$3,737Typical public university: $10,847
- $48k–$75k$6,559Typical public university: $13,703
- $75k–$110k$11,750Typical public university: $17,979
- Over $110k$40,477Typical 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
89%
Our colleges' median: 63%
Return for a second year
94%
Our colleges' median: 79%
Earnings after 10 years
$64,027
Our colleges' median: $57,440
Median debt at graduation
$17,550
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 31% to 20%.
What Smith 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
- Recommendationsrequired
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
- GPAconsidered
Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023
- Test scoresconsidered
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: you would write it.
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 Massachusetts
Closest acceptance rates in the same state.
- College of the Holy Cross21.1%
- Franklin W Olin College of Engineering21.7%
- Babson College17.1%
- Boston College16.2%
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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