University of Rochester

First-year admission

Apply through the Common Application or the Coalition for College Application; applicants to a Bachelor of Music at Eastman alone apply directly through the Eastman application. The application fee is $50, with a fee-waiver request form available. Required: secondary school transcript (grades 9 to 11), one teacher recommendation (up to three accepted), the counselor School Report and recommendation, mid-year report and final transcript, plus the University supplement and essay. An interview is highly recommended. A GED is accepted in lieu of a diploma. The school code is 002894.

Admission is test optional: SAT, ACT, AP, IB, A-level and similar results may be submitted but applicants who omit them are not disadvantaged, including for scholarship consideration. Admitted students who enrol after submitting scores must provide official reports.

Deadlines (first-year)

• Early Decision I: November 1 (decision mid-December)
• Priority scholarship deadline: December 1 (decision late February)
• Early Decision II: January 5 (decision early February)
• Regular Decision: January 5 (decision April 1; reply May 1)
• Spring Regular Decision: October 15

Early Decision is binding.

Transfer admission

Apply through the Common Application with official college transcripts, an official final high school transcript (may be waived after one year of full-time college work), one academic recommendation and the supplement. Priority deadlines: March 15 for fall and October 15 for spring. Supplemental materials are due June 15 (fall) and December 1 (spring). Over 100 transfer students enrol each year; the average college GPA of enrolled transfers is 3.4 to 3.7.

International applicants

Applicants who are not US citizens or permanent residents apply as first-year or transfer students and submit the standard materials plus English proficiency results (or an English Proficiency Waiver Request) and either the International Financial Support Form or the CSS Profile (school code 2928). Recommended English scores: Duolingo English Test 130, IELTS 7.5, TOEFL iBT 100 (former scale) or 5 (new scale in use from January 21, 2026); no superscoring, and TOEFL MyBest scores are not accepted. A waiver may be requested by native English speakers, those with three years of high school taught in English, or transfers with a year of US college study including a writing-intensive course. Transfer applicants with college study outside the US need a course-by-course credential evaluation from WES or ECE. Contact: [email protected].

Class profile

For fall 2026 entry, 22,558 applied, 9,842 were admitted (44%) and 1,275 enrolled; the average recalculated high school GPA of admitted students was 3.84. Admitted students who submitted scores had SAT reading and writing 700-760, SAT math 730-790 and ACT composite 31-35; 34% of admitted students applied without testing.

Graduate admission

Graduate and professional programmes are run by the individual schools, each with its own application, requirements and fee. The graduate application fee waiver in undergraduate admissions does not apply to graduate or PhD programmes.

• River Campus, 252 Elmwood Ave., Rochester, NY 14627: the primary academic campus of 154 acres on the Genesee River beside downtown, with the historic quads, Rush Rhees Library and most undergraduate teaching.
• Health Sciences Campus, 601 Elmwood Ave., Rochester, NY 14624: medical education and patient care (Medicine & Dentistry, Nursing & Health Sciences, Medical Center).
• Eastman School of Music, 26 Gibbs St., Rochester, NY 14604: downtown music campus with performance halls.
• Laboratory for Laser Energetics (South Campus), 250 East River Rd., Rochester, NY 14623.
• Memorial Art Gallery, 500 University Ave., Rochester, NY 14607: the University's art museum.

The University Libraries comprise more than 10 libraries with extensive digital collections.