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Unweighted GPA: 3.7
1.0
4.0
SAT: 720 math
200
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A Guide to Need-Blind Schools + Complete List

What’s Covered:

 

Just because a student is qualified doesn’t mean they’ll get into their dream school. Colleges base their decisions on many factors, from grades to fit to letters of recommendation. Unfortunately, some colleges also base their decision on a student’s ability to pay tuition.

 

In fact, top students sometimes refrain from applying to certain schools because the ability to pay is factored into admissions decisions. According to a Kaplan survey from 2015, 25% of college admissions officers report feeling pressured to admit less-qualified applicants because of family connections. Moreover, applying for aid can actually hurt a student’s odds of acceptance. While a CNN Money article from 2016 notes that not applying for financial aid is unlikely to get you into a top college if you aren’t qualified, it can certainly boost your application.

 

Fortunately, not all colleges consider financial factors when deciding which students to accept. With need-blind admissions, colleges evaluate only the non-financial parts of a student’s application package, such as GPA, test scores, essays, and letters of recommendation. In some cases, this policy applies only to U.S. applicants, but some colleges use need-blind admissions for international students as well.

 

What Is the Difference Between Schools That Meet 100% of Demonstrated Need and Need-Blind Schools?

 

A need-blind school isn’t necessarily committed to meeting 100% of students’ demonstrated financial need. In other words, a student may be accepted to a need-blind college, but have to turn down the admissions offer due to inability to pay. That said, many need-blind schools are also known for their generous financial aid programs.

 

Even if colleges practice need-blind admissions and meet 100% of demonstrated need, they may still include loans as part of their financial aid packages. Schools with the most generous financial aid will often be no-loan, need-blind, and meet 100% of demonstrated need. To recap, here are the definitions of these three financial aid policies:

 

  • No-loan schools offer students financial assistance through grants and scholarships, not federal student loans.

 

  • Need-blind schools make admissions decisions without considering a student’s financial circumstances or ability to pay tuition.

 

  • Schools that meet 100% of demonstrated need ensure accepted students receive sufficient grants, scholarships, and in some cases federal loans to attend.

 

List of Need-Blind Schools

 

The following schools have a need-blind policy when evaluating applicants. It’s worth noting that not all the schools on this list also meet 100% of students’ demonstrated need and are no-loan.

 

School Name

State

Acceptance Rate

Adrian College

Michigan

76%

Amherst College

Massachusetts

9%

Antioch College

Ohio

72%

Babson College

Massachusetts

25%

Barnard College

New York

11%

Baylor University

Texas

57%

Berea College

Kentucky

33%

Biola University

California

61%

Boston College

Massachusetts

19%

Boston University

Massachusetts

19%

Bowdoin College

Maine

9%

Brandeis University

Massachusetts

39%

Brown University

Rhode Island

6%

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

California

33%

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

California

4%

Carnegie Mellon University

Pennsylvania

14%

Chapman University

California

60%

Claremont McKenna College

California

11%

Colby College

Maine

9%

Colgate University

New York

17%

College of the Ozarks

Missouri

21%

College of William and Mary

Virginia

37%

Columbia University

New York

4%

Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art

New York

15%

Cornell College

Iowa

81%

Cornell University

New York

9%

Curtis Institute of Music

Pennsylvania

5%

Dartmouth College

New Hampshire

6%

Davidson College

North Carolina

18%

Denison University

Ohio

28%

DePaul University

Illinois

69%

Duke University

North Carolina

6%

Elon University

North Carolina

78%

Emory University

Georgia

13%

Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU)

New Jersey

85%

Florida State University

Florida

37%

Fordham University

New York

58%

Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Massachusetts

18%

Georgetown University

Washington DC

12%

Georgia Institute of Technology

Georgia

16%

Grinnell College

Iowa

11%

Hamilton College

New York

14%

Harvard University

Massachusetts

4%

Harvey Mudd College

California

10%

Haverford College

Pennsylvania

18%

Hiram College

Ohio

93%

Ithaca College

New York

78%

Jewish Theological Seminary

New York

58%

Johns Hopkins University

Maryland

8%

The Juilliard School

New York

7%

Kenyon College

Ohio

37%

Lafayette College

Pennsylvania

41%

Lawrence University

Wisconsin

75%

Lehigh University

Pennsylvania

46%

Lewis & Clark College

Oregon

79%

Marist College

New York

60%

Marlboro College

Vermont

83%

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Massachusetts

4%

Middlebury College

Vermont

13%

Mills College

California

80%

Mount St. Mary’s College

California

81%

New York University (NYU)

New York

13%

North Carolina State University (NCSU)

North Carolina

57%

North Central College

Illinois

68%

Northeastern University

Massachusetts

18%

Northwestern University

Illinois

7%

Olin College

Massachusetts

18%

Penn State

Pennsylvania

54%

Pomona College

California

7%

Princeton University

New Jersey

4%

Providence College

Rhode Island

48%

Purdue University

Indiana

69%

Randolph College

Virginia

94%

Rice University

Texas

9%

Salem College

North Carolina

90%

Saint Louis University

Missouri

70%

San Jose State University (SJSU)

California

84%

Santa Clara University

California

54%

Southern Methodist University (SMU)

Texas

53%

Soka University of America

California

52%

St. John’s College

Maryland

53%

St. Olaf College

Minnesotta

47%

Stanford University

California

4%

SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

New York

65%

Swarthmore College

Pennsylvania

8%

Syracuse University

New York

59%

The College of New Jersey (TCNJ)

New Jersey

62%

Thomas Aquinas College

California

83%

Trinity University

Texas

34%

Tufts University

Massachusetts

11%

Tulane University

Louisiana

10%

University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA)

California 

11%

University of Chicago

Illinois

6%

University of Florida

Florida

30%

University of Illinois at Chicago

Illinois

79%

University of Miami

Florida

28%

University of Michigan

Michigan

20%

University of New Hampshire

New Hampshire

87%

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

North Carolina

20%

University of Notre Dame

Indiana

15%

University of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

6%

University of Richmond

Virginia

29%

University of Rochester

New York

41%

University of Southern California (USC)

California

13%

University of Vermont

Vermont

64%

University of Virginia

Virginia

21%

University of Washington

Washington

53%

Ursuline College

Ohio

82%

Vanderbilt University

Tennessee

7%

Vassar College

New York

20%

Wabash College

Indiana

62%

Wellesley College

Massachusetts

16%

Wesleyan University

Connecticut

19%

Williams College

Massachusetts

9%

Yale University

Connecticut

5%

Yeshiva University

New York

63%

 

What Else Do You Need to Know About Financial Aid When Applying to College?

 

Students applying to need-blind institutions still need to submit their FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Colleges will use this information to calculate an individual’s SAI, or Student Aid Index. SAI is based on an array of factors, including family size, income, assets, benefits, and whether or not there are other family members in college.

 

Students with lower SAIs generally receive more aid than those with higher SAIs. If a gap exists between the student’s aid package as determined by SAI and what the college is willing to pay, students may have to apply for scholarships, or take out loans to make up the difference.

 

Curious about how financial aid you’ll receive, use our financial aid calculator that allows you estimate the price of college with a cost calculator!


Short Bio
Bijal is a senior at UCLA studying Anthropology with minors in Global Health and Gerontology. Working as a Bruin Ambassador in the Undergraduate Admissions office throughout college and having gone through the application cycle again for graduate school, she is eager to share her knowledge!