Understanding the difference between need-blind and need-aware admission policies is crucial for college applicants, particularly international students and those seeking financial aid.
Need-Blind Colleges
For International Students and U.S. Citizens (Alphabetical Order)
- Amherst College (#2 National Liberal Arts Colleges)
- Bowdoin College (#24 National Liberal Arts Colleges)
- Brown University (*beginning in 2025) (QS#73)
- Dartmouth College (QS#237)
- Harvard University (QS#4)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (QS#1)
- Minerva University
- Princeton University (QS#17)
- Yale University (QS#16)
For U.S. Citizens Only (Alphabetical Order)
- Boston College (U.S. News #37)
- California Institute of Technology (Caltech) (QS#15)
- Carnegie Mellon University (QS#52)
- Columbia University (QS#23)
- Cornell University (QS#13)
- Duke University (QS#57)
- Emory University (U.S. News #24)
- Georgetown University (U.S. News #22)
- Indiana University, Bloomington (U.S. News #73)
- Michigan State University (U.S. News #60)
- New York University (NYU) (QS#38)
- Northwestern University (QS#47)
- Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) (QS#83)
- Purdue University (QS#99)
- Rice University (U.S. News #17)
- Rutgers University, Camden (U.S. News #98)
- Rutgers University, Newark (U.S. News #82)
- Stanford University (QS#5)
- University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) (QS#10)
- University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) (U.S. News #33)
- University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) (QS#29)
- University of California, Riverside (UC Riverside) (U.S. News #76)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) (U.S. News #35)
- University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) (U.S. News #82)
- University of Chicago (QS#11)
- University of Connecticut (U.S. News #58)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U.S. News #35)
- University of Maryland (U.S. News #46)
- University of Michigan (QS#33)
- University of Pennsylvania (QS#12)
- University of Southern California (USC) (U.S. News #28)
- University of Texas, Dallas (UT Dallas) (U.S. News #115)
- University of Washington (QS#63)
Need-Aware Colleges
For International Students and U.S. Citizens (Alphabetical Order)
- Bates College (#24 National Liberal Arts Colleges)
- Berklee College of Music
- Boston University (QS#93)
- Case Western Reserve University (U.S. News #53)
- Loyola Marymount University (U.S. News #93)
- Syracuse University (U.S. News #67)
- University of California, Davis (UC Davis) (U.S. News #28)
- University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego) (U.S. News #28)
- University of Rochester (U.S. News #47)
- University of San Francisco (U.S. News #115)
- University of Texas, Austin (UT Austin) (U.S. News #32)
