Knowing as much as possible about the institution's criteria for admission increases your chances of getting admitted. Here are the most relevant information you have to know about admission policy and requirements at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

According to the most recent information reported, this institution uses standardized test scores for admission and it admitted 9,401 in 2024. Southern Illinois University Carbondale has an official test-optional admission policy but considers standardized test scores in cases when they are submitted by the student. Looking at entrance difficulty level for all or most incoming freshmen, based on data self-reported by the institution this school is moderately difficult to get into.

Test Scores

Out of the number of those who submitted test scores, the percentage of first-time, first-year degree-seeking students who submitted SAT scores was 38.49% and ACT scores 12.1%. 1.53% of the new students submitted SAT composite scores between 1,400 and 1,600, 14.94% between 1,200 and 1,399, 39.9% between 1,000 and 1,199, 35.99% between 800 and 999, 7.47% of the students between 600 and 799, and 0.17% between 400 and 599. The percent of new students who submitted ACT Composite scores in the range between 30-36 was 9.18, 43.88 between 24-29, 36.22 in the range between 18-23, 10.2 between 12-17, and 0.51 between 6-11.

The average ACT score for all the accepted students in 2024 was 24 while the average GPA was 3.23. That means that you need a GPA that's above average in order to get into Southern Illinois University Carbondale; the same goes for your ACT score.

The SAT Critical Reading average score was 522 for the newly enrolled students, while the average SAT Math score was 506.

Be it a grant, loan, scholarship, or work-study program, any type of financial help can be a great deal for many students. If you are interested in finding out more about need-based and non-need-based aid at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, here are some recent data you should consider.

The most recent figures show that financial help was given to 1,190 freshmen. Students of this school received an average of $17,679.34 in financial help.

Need-based

Need-based financial aid is exactly what it sounds like — it’s awarded based on the determined financial need.

There were 3,128 students who acquired need-based financial aid of any kind. Need-based college-administered scholarship and grant aid at Southern Illinois University Carbondale is available to international students. The overall number of students (including freshmen) who were determined to have financial need amounted to 4,545. The amount of federal need-based scholarships/grants awarded to the students at this institution stood at $19,511,302, and state $25,982,209. The students of Southern Illinois University Carbondale received the -institutional need-based aid in the amount of $12,684,923, and external in the amount of $1,745,271.