Washington University in St. Louis is part of an ascendant collective of colleges that once played second fiddle to the Ivy League but have since staked their claim as the next generation of elite institutions that students are flocking to in droves. Last year, 32,753 applicants tried to join the WashU community, but only 12% of these students ultimately earned admission. The data is still forthcoming for the Class of 2029, as WashU has heeded the example of other elite universities by keeping their admissions statistics under wraps and behind closed doors. But there’s still plenty to dissect about this incoming crop of students.

Washington University in St. Louis Acceptance Rate and Statistics (Classes of 2029 — 2018)

Washington University in St. Louis Class Year	Total Applications Received	Total Applications Accepted	Overall Acceptance Rate
Class of 2029	Not Yet Published	Not Yet Published	Not Yet Published
Class of 2028	32,753	Not Yet Published	12.00%
Class of 2027	32,240	3,855	11.96%
Class of 2026	33,214	3,764	11.33%
Class of 2025	33,634	4,373	13.00%
Class of 2024	27,949	4,477	16.02%
Class of 2023	25,426	3,522	13.85%
Class of 2022	31,320	4,708	15.03%
Class of 2021	30,463	4,863	15.96%
Class of 2020	29,197	4,827	16.53%
Class of 2019	29,259	4,898	16.74%
Class of 2018	29,211	5,004	17.13%

WashU Class of 2029 in Historical Perspective

The Class of 2029 is joining the WashU community at a high point in the school’s reputation. Three admissions cycles ago, for admission to the Class of 2026, WashU set a record for the lowest acceptance rate in the private research university’s history. The year prior, a record number of applicants — 33,634 — applied.

The most recent data we have available neither broke any records nor walked back and progressed. But considering that the 2023-24 admissions cycle was a difficult year for admissions officers nationwide, with the decreased interest shown by many applicants responding to PR challenges and horrendous news coming out of the nation’s elite campuses (a.k.a. encampments and the blind eye many administrations took to despicable acts of antisemitism), WashU’s comparative success last year is pretty remarkable.

Profile of the WashU Class of 2029

WashU released no demographic data about the Class of 2029 this year. We don’t know how many students of color were admitted, the socioeconomic status of each applicant, how many are Pell Grant eligible, or from which part of the world they hail. This data will be released next time WashU publishes a Common Data Set.

Last year, when such data finally arrived for the Class of 2028, it showed, according to an official university press release, “the percentage of first-year students who are from rural communities, low income or the first in their families to attend college ha[d] slightly increased. However, WashU saw a 4 percentage-point drop in first-year students who identify as Black/African American, while the percentage of Asian, white and Hispanic students stayed relatively steady. The percentage of students who did not disclose their race went up by 4 points. Overall 47% of the entering class identifies as a student of color compared with 53% last year.”

These statistics, quite notably, reflect the first WashU cohort curated after SCOTUS ruled against using race-based Affirmative Action to deliberate between applicants.

Getting Started with Ivy Coach on the WashU Waitlist

Congratulations to those who’ve made it into the WashU Class of 2029. If, however, you’ve been waitlisted to the WashU Class of 2029, your journey doesn’t end here. If you’re interested in Ivy Coach’s assistance in optimizing your case for admission off the WashU waitlist, fill out our complimentary consultation form, indicate that WashU has waitlisted you, and you’ll receive a delineation of our services. If you’re interested in moving forward with Ivy Coach from there, we’d be happy to set up a complimentary consultation to offer further color on our waitlist service.