The Denver University acceptance rate is 85.4%. For Fall 2025 the University of Denver received 16,637 applications and admitted 14,205.
Then 1,174 of them turned up.
That is a yield of 8.3%, the lowest of any institution covered anywhere in this programme. DU admitted 14,205 students and 13,031 of them went somewhere else. Reed College, which has a famously low yield, converts 12.2%. The University of Oregon converts about 14%. DU converts 8.3%.
Everything worth knowing about applying here follows from that one gap, so this page starts with it and works outward.
First, a disambiguation. This is the University of Denver, a private institution. It is not the University of Colorado Denver, a separate public university in the same city with its own admissions, its own prices and its own property listing. The two are confused constantly on this search term.
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The Gap: a Denver University Acceptance Rate of 85.4% and a Yield of 8.3%
| Measure, Fall 2025 | Figure |
| Applications | 16,637 (7,228 men, 9,389 women, 20 unknown) |
| Admitted | 14,205 (6,072 men, 8,114 women, 19 unknown) |
| Acceptance rate (derived) | 85.4% |
| Enrolled | 1,174 (532 men, 642 women) |
| Yield (derived) | 8.3% |
| Admitted students who went elsewhere | 13,031 |
| Average high school GPA | 3.68, from 99.4% of the class |
| Out-of-state share | 64% of first-year students, 67% of all undergraduates |
Yield is the closest thing admissions data has to a measure of how badly students want a place, because it records what people do once they hold a real offer. On that measure DU is, bluntly, where a great many strong students get admitted and then choose not to go.
Two readings of that, and both are true.
The unflattering one. DU is widely used as a safety school. It admits very broadly, 85.4%, and then loses nine admitted students in ten to institutions those students preferred. If what you want from a private university is a selective peer group, 85.4% is not that, and the yield confirms that most people treating DU as an option are treating it as a fallback option.
The useful one. An institution losing 13,031 admitted students a year has a powerful incentive to compete on money, and DU does, which is the subject of the aid section below. Its need-met figure is the best in Colorado.
The Early Decision Round That Buys You Nothing
This is the most actionable finding on this page and it runs against the advice almost every applicant is given.
| Round, Fall 2025 | Applications | Admitted | Rate |
| Early Decision | 273 | 231 | 84.6% |
| Overall | 16,637 | 14,205 | 85.4% |
DU's binding Early Decision round admitted 84.6% of its applicants. Its overall rate was 85.4%. Within a percentage point, and marginally lower.
Early Decision is a binding commitment: you agree to attend if admitted and to withdraw other applications. Applicants accept that constraint because at most institutions it comes with a large statistical advantage. At DU, on these figures, it comes with none.
The contrast inside this cluster is dramatic. Colorado College, sixty miles south, admits 26% in Early Decision and 3% in Regular Action, a 23-point advantage for binding yourself. At DU the advantage is approximately zero.
So unless you are certain DU is your first choice and you want the admissions decision early for your own planning, there is no visible statistical reason to apply ED here, and there is a real cost: you surrender the ability to compare aid offers at an institution whose aid is unusually generous and worth comparing.
Only 273 applicants used the round, which suggests the market has largely worked this out.
The waitlist tells a similar story of a round that barely exists. DU offered a waitlist place to 22 applicants out of 16,637, 4 accepted, and none were admitted from it. That is a vestigial structure rather than a real route.
Where DU Actually Competes: the Money
An institution that loses 13,031 admitted students has to offer something, and the something is this.
| Aid, Fall 2025 cohort | First-year, full-time |
| Average percent of demonstrated need met | 88.1% |
| Average need-based scholarship or grant | $48,039 |
| Share receiving need-based institutional grants | 45.6% (523 of 1,147) |
| Share receiving non-need institutional grants | 48.7% (559 of 1,147) |
| Average non-need institutional award | $28,815 |
88.1% of demonstrated need met is the best figure in Colorado and among the strongest in this entire programme. Colorado State meets 70.9%, UCCS does not publish a figure, and in earlier clusters UAB met 39.8% and Michigan State 61%. For a student with genuine financial need, DU is a materially different proposition from the region's public universities.
The average need-based grant of $48,039 covers 75% of DU's $63,720 tuition on its own.
And the two institutional grant categories together reach roughly 94% of the first-year class: 45.6% on need-based grants and 48.7% on non-need awards. Almost nobody pays the published price, and the average merit award of $28,815 is itself substantial.
DU's total institutional aid was $86,514,223 for 2025-26, up from $80,677,217 the previous year.
Which reframes the yield. DU is not failing to compete; it is competing on net price against institutions that beat it on brand. If you are the kind of applicant DU is trying to win, you are likely to be offered real money, and the ED section above is the reason not to foreclose your ability to use it.
The Price Before Aid
| 2026-27 | Amount |
| Tuition | $63,720 |
| Required fees | $1,584 |
| Housing and food | $18,815 |
| Derived total | $84,119 |
Housing is $11,283 and food $7,532. The stated tuition covers 12 to 18 credits a term.
Worth noting that DU publishes 2026-27 figures while Colorado State's filing still reports 2024-25 and the University of Alabama's reports 2025-26. DU is ahead of its peers on disclosure here, which is to its credit.
Against an $84,119 list price, the aid figures above are not a detail. They are the entire question, and the only number that matters is the one DU's net price calculator produces for you.
The Scores, and Why They Read High
| Test | 25th | 50th | 75th | Share submitting |
| SAT composite | 1160 | 1280 | 1360 | 25% (295 students) |
| ACT composite | 27 | 30 | 32 | 11% (130 students) |
Apply the rule that recurs across this programme: check the submission share before reading the range. A quarter of DU's class submitted an SAT and a ninth submitted an ACT, so both ranges describe self-selected minorities, and the ACT range in particular rests on 130 students.
The average high school GPA of 3.68, reported by 99.4% of the class, is the figure that actually describes the student body, and it sits below Colorado State's 3.7 at an institution charging $63,720 against CSU's $11,093.
Who the University of Denver Suits
Students with substantial financial need and a solid record. This is the clearest case in the cluster. An 88.1% need-met figure and an average need grant of $48,039 can make a private university cheaper in net terms than an out-of-state public, and DU is the only institution in Colorado covered here that comes close to meeting full need.
Students who want a private university experience in a major city, with 1,174 in the entering class rather than CSU's 5,376, and 64% of students from out of state, which gives DU a national rather than regional feel.
Students who will shop their aid offers. With roughly 94% of the class receiving some institutional grant and average merit awards of $28,815, DU is an institution to negotiate with rather than accept from.
Who should think again. Anyone considering Early Decision, who should note the 84.6% ED rate against 85.4% overall and ask what the binding commitment is actually buying. Anyone counting on the waitlist, which admitted nobody from 22 offers. Students who want selectivity as a signal, for whom 85.4% with an 8.3% yield is the wrong institution and Colorado College at 11.6% is the right one. And Colorado residents without need, who can attend CSU for $11,093 or UCCS for $9,022 in tuition.
Denver is an expensive housing market and the $18,815 line is the one that answers to a decision rather than an award letter. Student housing near the University of Denver and the wider Denver market are the comparisons to run against it, and in a city where two thirds of DU's students have arrived from elsewhere, starting that search early matters.
The Short Version
The Denver University acceptance rate is 85.4%, and the number that actually characterises the institution is the 8.3% yield sitting next to it. DU admits almost everyone who applies and keeps roughly one in twelve of them.
What it does with the students it keeps is genuinely good: 88.1% of demonstrated need met, an average need-based grant of $48,039 against $63,720 of tuition, and institutional grants reaching about 94% of the entering class.
So apply, expect to be admitted, expect a real offer, and do not use Early Decision, because at DU the binding round admits 84.6% against an overall 85.4% and the only thing it costs you is the ability to compare the money.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Denver University acceptance rate?
85.4% for Fall 2025. The University of Denver received 16,637 applications and admitted 14,205, of whom 1,174 enrolled, giving a yield of 8.3%. That yield is the lowest of any institution covered in this programme, which means 13,031 admitted students chose to go elsewhere. Note this is the private University of Denver, not the public University of Colorado Denver.
What is the University of Denver acceptance rate for Early Decision?
84.6%, from 273 Early Decision applications and 231 admissions, which is marginally below its overall rate of 85.4%. On these figures DU's binding early round confers no statistical advantage, which is unusual: Colorado College admits 26% in Early Decision against 3% in Regular Action. Since Early Decision also removes your ability to compare aid offers, the round is hard to justify at DU.
Why is the University of Denver's yield so low?
Because most admitted students prefer somewhere else. DU admits very broadly at 85.4% and enrols only 8.3% of those admitted, a pattern consistent with being widely used as a safety school. For comparison, Reed College converts 12.2% and the University of Oregon about 14%. The practical upshot is that DU competes hard on financial aid, where it leads Colorado.
Does the University of Denver have a waitlist worth joining?
Barely. For Fall 2025 DU offered a waitlist place to 22 applicants out of 16,637, 4 accepted a place, and none were admitted from it. It is a vestigial structure rather than a real route, and no applicant should plan around it.
How much financial aid does the University of Denver give?
More than any other Colorado institution covered here. DU meets 88.1% of demonstrated need for first-year students and 85.7% for full-time undergraduates, with average need-based grants of $48,039 and $44,171. Separately, 48.7% of the first-year class received non-need awards averaging $28,815. Between the two categories, roughly 94% of entering students receive some institutional grant, from a total institutional aid budget of $86,514,223.
How much does the University of Denver cost?
For 2026-27, tuition is $63,720 plus $1,584 in required fees and $18,815 for housing and food, split as $11,283 housing and $7,532 food, giving a derived total of $84,119. The tuition covers 12 to 18 credits a term. Given that the average need-based grant is $48,039, the list price is a poor guide to what most students pay, and DU's net price calculator is the figure that matters.
What GPA and test scores does the University of Denver want?
The enrolled class averages a 3.68 high school GPA, reported by 99.4% of students, which is the figure that describes the student body. The published SAT range of 1160 to 1360 rests on the 25% of students who submitted one, and the ACT range of 27 to 32 on just 11%, or 130 students, so both describe self-selected minorities rather than the class.
Is the University of Denver the same as the University of Colorado Denver?
No. The University of Denver is a private institution charging $63,720 in tuition for 2026-27. The University of Colorado Denver is a separate public university in the same city with its own admissions and much lower in-state pricing. They are distinct institutions and the two are frequently confused, so check which one a figure refers to before relying on it.