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Queen's Acceptance Rate: What Official Data Shows
Queen’s received 59,533 first-year applications for 2025, and its incoming class averaged 90.5%. Queen’s doesn’t publish an acceptance rate. It publishes first-year applications and intake, an incoming class average and a competitive average for each program. None of those is an offer rate. Here’s what’s public and how to use it.
Reviewed September 30, 2026 · Every figure below comes from a Queen’s or Council of Ontario Universities source linked at the end
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Applications and intake Queen’s publishes
Queen’s 2025–26 Enrolment Report counts first-year applications and intake, with data as of November 1, 2025. The report defines intake as new students entering a program. The 2025 incoming class average was 90.5%.
| Year | First-year applications | First-year intake | International applications | International intake |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 59,533 | 5,477 | 7,093 | 329 |
| 2024 | 58,654 | 5,224 | 8,420 | 315 |
| 2023 | 54,424 | 5,174 | 8,951 | 395 |
The 2025 first-year class of 5,477 broke down as 3,348 in Arts and Science (including Concurrent Education), 921 in Smith Engineering, 600 in Smith Commerce and 608 in Health Sciences. The Health Sciences figure combines 435 on-campus Bachelor of Health Sciences students, 47 distance students and 126 Nursing students.
Why those counts don’t make an acceptance rate
An acceptance rate is offers made divided by applicants, for the same group and year. Queen’s numbers don’t fit that formula in two ways. Applications aren’t people: CUDO, for example, reports first-choice applicants and all-choice applications as separate counts. And intake counts students who arrived, not everyone who got an offer.
Queen’s applicant FAQ doesn’t mention an acceptance rate. Its Institutional Research and Planning office sends readers to Common University Data Ontario (CUDO). We checked the CUDO portal on September 30, 2026. Its admission table reports applicants, applications and registrants by program, with no count of offers. Registrants divided by applicants describes who enrolled, not who was admitted.
So we don’t publish a Queen’s acceptance percentage. If you see one elsewhere, it didn’t come from Queen’s, and it can’t be rebuilt from the official counts above.
Competitive averages by program
This is the measure that actually helps you plan. Queen’s says each figure is the minimum average, based on prerequisite courses, needed for admission consideration for September of last year. It adds that averages vary each year and could be higher than published.
| Program | Competitive average (Ontario high school) |
|---|---|
| Arts (QA) | Low 80s |
| Concurrent Education Arts (QB) | High 80s |
| Science (QS) | Low 80s |
| Concurrent Education/Science (QF) | Low 80s |
| Computing (QD) | Mid 80s |
| Music (QM) | Low 80s |
| Musical Theatre (QMT) | Low 80s |
| Concurrent Education/Music (QMM) | Low 80s |
| Kinesiology (QK) | Mid 80s |
| Concurrent Education/Kinesiology (QKF) | Low 90s |
| Life Science and Biochemistry (QL) | Mid 80s |
| Smith School of Business, Commerce (QC) | 90+ |
| Smith Engineering, Engineering and Applied Science (QE) | Mid 80s |
| Smith Engineering, Electrical & Computing Engineering Stream (QEC) | High 80s |
| Smith Engineering, Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering (QEM) | High 80s |
| Nursing (QN) | Low 90s |
| Health Sciences (QH) | Low 90s |
Source: Queen’s competitive average page, checked September 30, 2026. For prerequisites, deadlines and supplementary applications, see the Queen’s admission requirements guide.
What actually decides admission
Queen’s says applicants are admitted based on grades and supplementary information, with preference for the strongest overall qualifications. A grade at the competitive average makes you competitive. It doesn’t guarantee an offer.
Queen’s Senate policy sets a 75% overall minimum admission average for all direct-entry applicants. Every program’s published competitive average sits well above that floor, so aim for the program figure, not the policy minimum.
Official sources
Each figure and quotation on this page links back to the page it came from.
- Queen's 2025–26 Enrolment Report
First-year applications and intake for 2023 to 2025, international applications and intake, the 90.5% incoming class average, the first-year class by faculty and a preliminary intake chart by program. Data as of November 1, 2025. The report defines intake as new students entering a program.
- Queen's competitive averages
Competitive averages by program for Ontario high school applicants. Queen's says they are the minimum averages for admission consideration for September of last year and could be higher.
- Queen's Senate Policy on Minimum Admission Average
Sets a 75% overall minimum admission average for all direct-entry undergraduate applicants.
- Queen's Undergraduate Admission FAQs
The applicant FAQ doesn't mention an acceptance, admit or admission rate. Checked September 30, 2026.
- Queen's Institutional Research and Planning: CUDO
Queen's describes CUDO Section B as admission data covering applicants and registrants, admission requirements, entering averages and application fees, and sends readers to the Council of Ontario Universities for the data.
- Council of Ontario Universities: CUDO
CUDO's admission table (B1, Applicants and Registrants by Program) reports applicants, applications and registrants. It has no offers field, so it cannot produce an acceptance rate.
Frequently asked questions
Direct answers about Queen's acceptance rate, why the official counts can't produce one, and what the competitive averages mean.
Planning a Queen’s application?
An adviser can help you build a program list around the averages Queen’s publishes. Queen’s makes every admission decision.