Davidson College

Overview

Rankings

• #1 Best Education Colleges in North Carolina
• #2 Highest-Paying Colleges for Education
• #2 Best Psychology Colleges in North Carolina
• #2 Best Communications Colleges in North Carolina
• #3 Best Colleges in North Carolina
• #3 Best Bachelor's Programs in North Carolina
• #3 Best Master's Programs in North Carolina
• #3 Best ROI Colleges for Education

Academics & Admissions

Is It Hard to Get Into Davidson College? Acceptance Rate & Requirements

Davidson College, located in Davidson, North Carolina, sets a competitive bar: about 13% of applicants get an offer. Admitted students typically arrive with an average SAT score near 1,469. The graduation rate is roughly 91%.

Acceptance Rate

13%

Retention Rate

95%

SAT Average

1469

SAT Range

1400–1530

ACT Range

31–34

Full-Time Faculty

96%

Faculty Salary (mo)

$13,033

Student–Faculty Ratio

9:1

Diversity Index

0.60

First-Gen Students

16%

Applicants

6,479

Admitted

1,098

Inside the Admissions Office

School-reported Common Data Set · 2025-26

The acceptance rate tells you how hard Davidson College is to get into. Its Common Data Set tells you what happens once you are admitted: how many students say yes, how many arrived without test scores, and whether applying early tilts the odds. 47% of admitted students go on to enroll here, making it a school more than half of admitted students choose.

Yield Rate

47%

of admits enroll

Submitted SAT

25%

of enrolled freshmen

Submitted ACT

24%

of enrolled freshmen

Early Decision Admit Rate

29.1%

vs 12.6% overall

Cost & Financial Aid

How Much Does It Cost to Attend Davidson College? Tuition, Net Price & Aid

Published tuition at Davidson College is $64,410, but few families pay that. The number to watch is net price, what students actually pay each year after federal grants and institutional scholarships. Here it averages about $17,379. Students from families earning under $30,000 typically pay closer to $9,497 after need-based grants. The median graduate leaves with about $18,688 in federal student loans.

In-State Tuition

$64,410

Out-of-State

$64,410

Avg Net Price

$17,379

Median Debt

$18,688

Pell Grant Rate

18%

Federal Loan Rate

9%

Students Like You

Tell us a little about yourself to see what students like you have typically experienced at Davidson College — the net price for your income, your admission odds, and the outcomes that follow. These are patterns from federal data, not predictions.

Graduate Outcomes

Is Davidson College Worth It? Graduate Earnings & ROI

Ten years out, alumni of Davidson College earn a median of $81,400, well above the national average for bachelor's degree holders.

6 Years After Entry

$62,866

8 Years

$71,470

10 Years

$81,400

Debt-to-Earnings

0.23x

Earning > $25K

82%

Social Mobility

Data: Raj Chetty's Mobility Report Card · 30M+ anonymized tax records

Does Davidson College Drive Upward Mobility? Economic Mobility & Low-Income Outcomes

Davidson College is a measurable contributor to upward mobility. Its mobility rate, the share of students who start in the bottom income quintile and climb to the top, is 0.41%, a more modest figure. Access is narrower: only about 1.4% of students come from the bottom income quintile, typical of more selective, higher-income institutions. Among bottom-quintile students who attend, roughly 29.7% go on to reach the top of the income ladder. The median family income of students sits near $208,500, a snapshot of the campus's socioeconomic mix.

Mobility Rate

0.41%

Bottom 20% → Top 20%

Success Rate

29.7%

If bottom 20% get in

From Bottom 20%

1.4%

Share of students

Parent Median Income

$283,278

today's $ (2015 cohort data)

Social Capital

Data: Opportunity Insights Social Capital Atlas

How Connected Is Davidson College? Social Capital & Cross-Class Networks

Social capital, the web of cross-class friendships that researchers link to long-run upward mobility, runs high at Davidson College. Its economic connectedness score is 1.76, where about 1.0 is the national norm. Its friending bias is low (-0.01), a sign that students from different economic backgrounds actually mix rather than self-segregate. Around 10% of students take part in civic and volunteering activity.

Economic Connectedness

1.76

Cross-class friendships

Friending Bias

-0.01

Lower = more inclusive

Volunteering Rate

9.8%

Support Ratio

1.00

Community support

Innovation & Knowledge Creation

Patents, inventors, and research influence · Opportunity Insights & Times Higher Education

Davidson College produces inventors at a measurable rate, with 4 patents tied to its graduates.

Inventor Rate

0.71%

Top 33% nationally

Patents Produced

4

Linked to graduates

Patent Citations

282

Downstream influence

Institutional Finances

Data: NCES IPEDS

Federal Grants

$9,822,710

Investment Income

$-26,393,848

Top Programs

The fields Davidson College awards the most degrees in, by share of completions. Where federal field-of-study data exists, we show what graduates in that major earned early in their careers. Each links to its degree guide — or see what someone with your income, scores, and major would pay and earn here in the Students Like You simulator.

• Social Sciences 23% $82,387 early-career
• Biology & Biomedical 16% $37,630 early-career
• Psychology 14% $33,980 early-career
• Computer Science & IT 7%
• Physical Sciences 6%
• English & Literature 5% $41,979 early-career
• Communications 4%
• Mathematics & Statistics 4%

Early-career median earnings by major (typically 1–2 years after completion, bachelor's level where available), in today's dollars (CPI-adjusted). Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard field of study. Distinct from the school-wide 10-year median; suppressed for small programs.