Requirements

• The Common Application
• The Vanderbilt Application Supplement
• $50 application fee
• Official secondary school transcript
• SAT Reasoning Test or ACT
• TOEFL Examination (if applicable)
• Personal Statement
• Two teacher recommendations
• counselor recommendation

• Vanderbilt accepts the Common Application exclusively for freshman and transfer admission. In addition, applicants must submit Part 1: The Vanderbilt Common Application Supplement and a $50 application fee. Part 1 and the application fee may be submitted before or with the Common Application itself. The Common Application is available from www.commonapp.org All parts of the application should be postmarked or submitted electronically by the appropriate deadline.

Along with evidence of intellectual ability and promise, the Admissions Committee considers other factors that influence performance:

• Strength of coursework
• Extracurricular activities
• Teacher recommendations
• Personal statement

Vanderbilt does not have a minimum test score or GPA requirement in order to apply for admission. Applications are evaluated in their entirety, taking each of the above factors into consideration.

• All freshman applicants are required to submit a standardized exam with the writing component (either the SAT Reasoning Test, or ACT) as a part of their application.
• The old SAT II Writing Test may not be submitted in lieu of the new writing component. 
• If a student takes the SAT more than once, we will mix and match the highest Critical Reading, Writing, and Mathematics section scores.
• For the ACT, we will consider the highest composite score.

The middle 50% of accepted students score between 1340 and 1510 on the SAT, and between 30 and 33 on the ACT. Vanderbilt does not have a preference for either the SAT or ACT.

SAT Subject Tests are not required for admission. However, these scores will be considered if included with a student's application. If an admitted student chooses to enroll, SAT Subject Test scores are used for placement in first-year courses.  We encourage all students to take the Math Level 2 test and a foreign language test.

More information on standardized tests is available here.

In order to apply for admission, students must complete the following basic high school class requirements:

• 4 English classes
• 3 math classes
• 3 science classes
• 3 social studies classes (history, government, economics, etc.)
• 2 foreign language classes (in the same language)

Although these are the minimum requirements, we encourage students to take a challenging course load, including AP/IB and honors courses. Students who are most competitive for admission generally take the most rigorous course load their high school offers.  The average rank is in the top 5%. Additional admissions statistics are available here.

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