First-Year Applicants

If you are still in high school, have completed high school but have not yet started college, or have completed less than one year of full-time study (approximately 30 credits) at the college level, you are considered a first-year applicant. If you wish to enter college after your junior year of high school, you are considered to be contemplating Early Admission.

September Entrance

Early Decision

If you are sure that Sarah Lawrence is your first choice, you may choose to apply early. We offer two Early Decision (ED) options that differ only in their deadlines (ED I: December 1 and ED II: extended to February 1). If we offer you admission under either option, we expect you to accept the offer and enroll. Early Decision applicants and their counselors must sign the Early Decision Agreement. If we do not admit you as an Early Decision candidate, it may be because we wish to consider additional information such as your first-semester senior year grades. In this case we would postpone the decision and consider your application in February with the regular decision pool.

Regular Decision

If you do not choose either Early Decision option, the deadline for submitting application materials has been extended to February 15.

We mail our admission decisions in early April. If we offer you admission, you must respond by the Candidate's Reply Date of May 1.

Early Admission

If you wish to enter college after your junior year of high school, you are said to be considering Early Admission. Follow all of the directions for first-year students. Early Admission candidates are required to interview on campus.

Required Credentials

1. The Common Application, which may be completed online or downloaded as a PDF and mailed in, and the $60 application fee or waiver. 
2. The Sarah Lawrence College Common Application Supplement with a supplemental essay and analytical paper. The supplement may be filled out online with the Common Application, or downloaded and mailed.
3. School Report completed and mailed by your guidance counselor.
4. School Transcript(s)—complete through seven semesters or the semester most recently completed. Please give the Mid-Year Grade Report to your counselor or registrar promptly so that your current semester's or trimester's grades can be recorded and sent to us as soon as they are available. Transcripts of any summer school or college work must be submitted as well.
5. Two Teacher/Faculty Evaluations. These should be completed by teachers who know you well enough to write about you with specificity, and should be written by teachers of your core academic courses (English, math, science, history or foreign language).
6. Applicants for whom English is not their first language should take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). A score of 600 (paper-based), 250 (computer-based) or 100 (Internet-based) is the minimum acceptable score. Students for whom time or distance creates a hardship in supplying these results may request an extension. Limited, need-based financial aid is available to international students (holders of non-U.S. passports).
7. Limited, need-based financial aid is available to international students (holders of non-U.S. passports).
8. Early Decision applicants and their counselors must sign the Early Decision Agreement and submit the completed form by the application deadline (Early Decision I: December 1 or Early Decision II: February 1).

Optional Credentials

1. SAT I, SAT II, or ACT scores. The submission of standardized test scores is optional. You may choose to submit test scores if you feel they will strengthen and enhance your other application credentials. However, you will not be at a disadvantage should you choose not to submit your scores.
2. Arts Supplement. The Arts Supplement may be filled out online with the Common Application, or downloaded and mailed.
3. Athletic Supplement. The Athletic Supplement may be filled out online with the Common Application, or downloaded and mailed.