


Tufts University holds institutional accreditation from the New England Commission of Higher Education, known as NECHE. Institutional accreditation reviews the university as a whole; it is distinct from approval or accreditation of an individual professional program.
Some Tufts programs also operate under discipline-specific accreditation requirements. Engineering applicants should check the accreditation status of their particular degree through ABET. Applicants to medicine, dental medicine, or veterinary medicine should likewise confirm the current professional accreditation and licensing requirements for their intended program. Accreditation of one program does not automatically cover another.
Institutional accreditation is relevant to eligibility for federal student aid. It can also matter when seeking to transfer credit or pursue further study, but another institution decides whether to accept a specific course. For licensed professions, students should check both program accreditation and the rules of the state where they expect to practice.
Tufts uses selective admission rather than open admission for first-year undergraduates. Applicants generally submit an application, a secondary-school record, recommendations, and Tufts-specific written responses. Preparation for college-level work is important, but the published admissions indicators do not establish a universal minimum high-school GPA or class rank.
The reported entering-class figures show roughly 34,400 first-year applicants and 4,000 offers of admission, an acceptance rate of about 11%. That describes a past applicant pool, not an individual's probability of admission. Among enrolled first-year students who submitted scores, the reported median was 1495 on the SAT and 34 on the ACT; because only a portion of students submitted each test, those medians do not describe the entire class.
Standardized-testing rules can change by entry year. Applicants should check the policy for their own cycle before deciding whether to send SAT or ACT results. Students educated in a language other than English should also review Tufts' current English-proficiency rules, including any accepted tests or exemptions, rather than assume every international applicant follows the same requirement.
Tufts offers first-year application rounds with different deadlines, including early-decision options and regular decision. Early decision carries a commitment if the student is admitted and receives an affordable aid package under the applicable rules. Applicants to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts should check its additional portfolio requirements. Graduate and professional schools set separate admissions criteria.
The reported undergraduate application fee is $75. This is an application charge, not an enrollment deposit or a tuition payment; applicants should confirm the amount displayed for their application cycle before submitting.
Tufts offers application-fee waivers to eligible applicants, including students for whom the fee would create a financial hardship. Applicants can indicate eligibility through the application's fee-waiver process and should complete that request before paying. A school counselor or the admissions office may be able to clarify documentation or eligibility when the available application choices do not fit a student's circumstances.
Transfer, graduate, and professional applicants should follow the fee instructions for their own application, which may differ from the first-year undergraduate process.
Tufts students can pursue Army, Air Force, and Navy ROTC through cooperating institutions rather than assuming Tufts operates a separate unit for each branch on its campus. Participating students should expect to coordinate Tufts coursework with the host program's classes, training, and travel requirements.
ROTC participation and an ROTC scholarship are separate matters. Scholarship eligibility, medical and physical standards, citizenship rules, and eventual service obligations vary by branch and program. A prospective student should speak with the relevant host detachment before committing to a schedule or assuming a scholarship will cover a particular Tufts expense.
Tufts admits undergraduate transfer students for fall entry and generally considers college coursework completed at other accredited institutions. A transfer applicant must apply for admission; the fact that a course may be eligible for transfer credit does not itself confer admission.
Applicants should expect to provide college transcripts and information about their secondary-school education, along with the application materials required for the current cycle. Tufts evaluates transfer credit by course and by its relevance to a degree. A course accepted for credit might not satisfy a particular major, distribution, or engineering requirement.
Transfer planning is especially important for sequential majors and studio-based programs. Students should retain syllabi and course descriptions and seek an official credit evaluation after admission. They should also check how many credits must be completed at Tufts, whether their intended school has additional requirements, and how transferred work could affect time to graduation.
Tufts offers undergraduate study-abroad advising and routes that can include Tufts programs and approved programs run by other providers. Depending on a student's course of study, an international experience may last a semester, an academic year, or a shorter period.
Program approval matters as much as destination. Before applying, students should establish how overseas courses will count toward a major and graduation requirements, which office will award or record the credit, and whether the program fits a required course sequence. Engineering students and others with tightly ordered curricula may need to plan particularly early.
Costs and financial-aid treatment can differ between Tufts-operated and external programs. Students should compare the program budget, housing, travel, and aid rules for the specific option they are considering rather than assume their usual campus bill will carry over unchanged.
46% of admitted students enrolled (1,801 of 3,957)
Regular application deadline
January 4Application fee
$75Early Decision
Yes, deadline November 2Early Action
NoMedian composite SAT score
1495Median composite ACT score
34Percent of students submitting ACT scores
16%Percent of students submitting SAT scores
42%High school completions
General Educational Development (GED) requiredSecondary school GPA
Considered but not requiredSecondary school rank
Considered but not requiredSecondary school record
RequiredCompletion of college-preparatory program
RequiredRecommendations
RequiredFormal demonstration of competencies
Considered but not requiredAdmission test scores
Considered but not requiredTOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language
RequiredOther Test (Wonderlic, WISC-III, etc.)
Neither required nor recommendedOpen admission policy
NoDual credit
NoCredit for life experiences
NoAdvanced placement (AP) credits
YesOrientation program
YesDisabilities services
YesOff-campus study
YesROTC-Army
ROTC branch unit at a cooperating host institutionROTC-Navy
ROTC branch unit at a cooperating host institutionROTC-Air Force
ROTC branch unit at a cooperating host institutionStudy abroad
YesWeekend/evening college
YesStudent can complete their preparation in certain areas of specialization
YesPreparation at another institution required
NoApproved by the state for initial certification or licensure of teacher
YesAccept ACE recommendation for credit
YesPossible transfer
FallData last updated on November 2, 2026
Data sources: IPEDS 2024-25, Peterson 2026, College Scorecard 10/2026, Clery 2024 (2023-24), OpenAlex 2026
Figures on this profile come from federal and third-party datasets in the editions listed above and are refreshed periodically, so they may differ from what the institution currently reports. Confirm costs, deadlines and requirements with the school before making decisions.