Trinity College (CT)
Hartford, Connecticut | Admissions Phone: 860-297-2180
E-mail: admissions.office@trincoll.edu | Website: www.trincoll.edu
ADMISSION
Admission Rate: 34%
Admission Rate - Men: 31%
Admission Rate - Women: 36%
EA Admission Rate: Not Offered
ED Admission Rate: 58%
Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): +2%
ED Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): -5%
% of Admits Attending (Yield): 28%
Transfer Admission Rate: 26%
# Offered Wait List: 1,827
# Accepted Wait List: 1,103
# Admitted Wait List: 11
SAT Reading/Writing (Middle 50%): 630-710
SAT Math (Middle 50%): 670-750
ACT Composite (Middle 50%): 29-32
Testing Policy: Test Optional
SAT Superscore: Yes
ACT Superscore: Yes
% Graduated in Top 10% of HS Class: 46%
% Graduated in Top 25% of HS Class: 76%
% Graduated in Top 50% of HS Class: 95%
ENROLLMENT
Total Undergraduate Enrollment: 2,182
% Part-Time: 3%
% Male: 50%
% Female: 50%
% Out-of-State: 82%
% Fraternity: 29%
% Sorority: 17%
% On-Campus (Freshman): 100%
% On-Campus (All Undergraduate): 86%
% African-American: 6%
% Asian: 4%
% Hispanic: 9%
% White: 63%
% Other: 3%
% Race or Ethnicity Unknown: 3%
% International: 13%
% Low-Income: 10%
ACADEMICS
Student-to-Faculty Ratio: 9:1
% of Classes Under 20: 72%
% of Classes Under 40: 97%
% Full-Time Faculty: 74%
% Full-Time Faculty w/ Terminal Degree: 95%
Top Programs
Anthropology
Economics
Engineering
History
International Studies
Public Policy and Law
Urban Studies
Retention Rate: 91%
4-Year Graduation Rate: 78%
6-Year Graduation Rate: 84%
Curricular Flexibility: Very Flexible
Academic Rating: 
FINANCIAL
Institutional Type: Private
In-State Tuition: $56,380
Out-of-State Tuition: $56,380
Room & Board: $15,300
Required Fees: $2,670
Books & Supplies: $1,000
Avg. Need-Based Aid: $48,334
Avg. % of Need Met: 100%
Avg. Merit-Based Aid: $58,374
% Receiving Merit-Based Aid: 3%
Avg. Cumulative Debt: $30,893
% of Students Borrowing: 44%
CAREER
Who Recruits
1. Salesforce
2. CBRE
3. UBS
4. Accenture
5. Fidelity Investments
Notable Internships
1. WeWork
2. Wayfair
3. Boston Public Health Commission
Top Industries
1. Business
2. Education
3. Operations
4. Finance
5. Sales
Top Employers
1. Morgan Stanley
2. Google
3. Citi
4. IBM
5. Merrill Lynch
Where Alumni Work
1. New York City
2. Boston
3. Hartford
4. Washington, DC
5. San Francisco
Median Earnings
College Scorecard (Early Career): $66,100
EOP (Early Career): $67,300
PayScale (Mid-Career): $110,900
RANKINGS
Forbes: 109
Money: 163
U.S. News: 46, Liberal Arts Colleges
Wall Street Journal/THE: 89 (T)
Washington Monthly: 23, Liberal Arts Colleges
Inside the Classroom
Established as Washington College in 1823 before being renamed in 1845, Trinity College was founded as an Episcopalian alternative to Congregationalist Yale; it is the second oldest college in the state of Connecticut. What began as a college of nine male students is today a 100-acre campus within the confines of downtown Hartford that features 2,200 full-time undergraduates, forty-one majors, and more than 900 distinct courses. Famous alumni are a disparate lot that includes both conservative voices like George Will and Tucker Carlson as well as the legendary absurdist playwright Edward Albee of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf fame.
Freshmen learn the ropes of academic reading and writing in either a first-year seminar or via the invitation-only Gateway Program. An additional course bearing the “writing intensive” designation must be completed at some point during one’s undergraduate program. All students are required to demonstrate competency as writers, quantitative thinkers, and in one foreign language. Lastly, all students must either complete a course with a global focus or participate in a study abroad program. Passing one course with a C- or better in each of the arts, humanities, natural sciences, numerical and symbolic reasoning, and the social sciences are the only other requirements in what amounts to a very open curriculum.
With a total graduate student population that doesn’t even hit triple digits, the bulk of the resources are directed toward Bantam undergraduates. Thus, a student/faculty ratio of 9:1 translates to 72 percent of course sections boasting an enrollment of nineteen or fewer students, and one-quarter of sections having fewer than ten; the mean number of students in a class is seventeen. Working closely with faculty is a real possibility at this school where one hundred students conduct research each year alongside faculty through the Summer Research Program, and roughly two-thirds engage in some type of undergraduate research. Greater than 60 percent of Trinity students study abroad and have access to Trinity-exclusive programs in Shanghai and Cape Town and school-run programs in Paris, Barcelona, Rome, Vienna, and Trinidad.
Trinity College is well regarded across the board with an economics department that feeds many leading investment banks and an engineering program that is among the best you will find at a small liberal arts school. Most degrees are conferred in the social sciences, biology, and psychology. While only a small percentage of graduates pursue prestigious national fellowships, a few do typically take home Fulbrights and an occasional Watson Scholarship each year, but the school has only two Rhodes Scholars in its history.
Outside the Classroom
Over 90 percent of Trinity undergraduates reside on campus, and 100 percent of freshmen are housed in one of seven first-year exclusive dorms. Greek life is more popular among men (29 percent join a fraternity) than women (17 percent join a sorority). Competing in the New England Small College Athletic Conference within NCAA Division III, the Bantams field twenty-eight varsity teams evenly split between men’s and women’s squads. Including club sports, over 40 percent of the student body participates in intercollegiate athletics. While sports and frats dominate the social scene, the Students Activities, Involvement, and Leadership Office (SAIL) oversees 150+ student-run clubs and organizations. While the school touts the “real-world” aspect of being located in downtown Hartford, the city presently has one of the highest per-capita crime rates in the United States. Affluent students, of whom there are many at Trinity, often prefer roads trips to Montreal, New York City, or Boston over their “home” city. However, the spirit of volunteerism is strong, and the Office of Community Service and Civic Engagement offers endless opportunities to work in areas such as hunger, housing, the homeless, and education.
Career Services
The Center for Student Success and Career Development features six full-time staff members who specialize in areas such as strategic partnerships, pre-law advising, and pre-health career advising. That equates to a student-to-advisor ratio of 370:1, in the average range when compared against other liberal arts colleges featured in this guide. The college is one of a dozen schools in the country that uses Stanford University’s Designing Your Life approach that encourages undergraduates to shed rigid views and fears about career and, instead, use their passions, goals, and creative problem-solving skills to move toward a meaningful path. To pursue that aim, Trinity invites students to join one of six Career Communities designed for those who wish to take advantage of industry-specific career advice, internship opportunities, Career Treks, panel discussions, and Career Skills Labs.
Other perks include a Career Studio where students can stop by any time for help with tangible job search products like resumes, cover letters, or creating a LinkedIn profile. In addition, the Bantam Career Network functions like a private LinkedIn where current students can network with alumni in their fields of interest. The college does not host any large-scale career fairs, but the Career Connections Summit on parents’ weekend affords undergraduates the chance to network with representatives from top corporations. Trinity has invested heavily in its career development in the last decade, and that financial commitment is starting to bear fruit. This forward-thinking center is innovating every year, and its efforts are reflected in career/graduate school outcomes, earning it top marks from our staff.
Professional Outcomes
Surveyed members of the Class of 2018 had found a positive outcome at a 95.2 percent clip. Those entering the world of employment landed jobs at desirable organizations like the New York City Ballet, NBC Universal, and Morgan Stanley, a company with a hefty share of alumni. A large Bantam presence also can be felt in the corporate offices of Citi, Merrill Lynch, Fidelity Investments, Google, IBM, and Goldman Sachs. Finance (17 percent), communications and media (16 percent), education (12 percent), science and health care (12 percent), and management (11 percent) are the most frequently entered fields. Starting and midcareer salaries tend to be on the higher side, ranking in the top ten among highly selective private colleges alongside many engineering-heavy schools. While a fair number of graduates remain in the Hartford area, New York City and Boston occupy the one and two slots for highest alumni concentrations.
Many Trinity grads go on to prestigious graduate schools; 60 percent of alumni have entered or completed a graduate or professional program within five years. Class of 2018 members matriculated into the likes of Yale Medical School, Cambridge University, and Columbia University. Medical or other health-related program applicants are successful 80 percent of the time and are presently enrolled at institutions such as Georgetown, Tufts, Penn, Cornell, and Boston University. Graduates eying law school earn an average LSAT of 160 (80th percentile) and enroll at a vast array of universities including Top Fourteen law schools like Duke, Cornell, Columbia, Stanford, and Northwestern.
Admission
The Class of 2023 saw 33 percent of applicants admitted, an acceptance rate identical to that of the previous three cycles. In Trinity’s fourth year as a test-optional school, 58 percent of those who ultimately enrolled took advantage of the policy, not submitting an SAT or ACT score. Middle-50 percent scores of those who did submit standardized test results were 1300-1460 on the SAT and 29-32 on the ACT. Transcripts have to be strong but not immaculate as 46 percent of attendees placed in the top decile of their high school class while 76 percent were in the top quartile.
Rigor of secondary school record, GPA, and character/personal qualities constitute the triumvirate of most important factors. The committee genuinely values intangible qualities that research has shown leads to post-secondary success such as “grit, optimism, persistence, a willingness to take risks, and an ability to overcome adversity.” A supplemental essay explaining why applicants wish to attend college in an urban setting also is recommended. The college fills almost half its freshman class via two early decision rounds. The 2023 cohort was comprised of 285 ED students, which included 152 varsity athletes. ED admit rates reached 58 percent in 2018-19 cycle, and those admitted via that round comprised 52 percent of the incoming class. Trinity is a more desirable destination than ever. In 2015, only 22 percent of accepted students elected to attend, but that figure has jumped to 30 percent in recent years. Applying ED or ED II is undoubtedly a wise strategic move.
Worth Your Money?
At $76,450 in annual costs, Trinity won’t come cheap. It does not offer much in the way of merit aid, instead focusing its efforts on meeting all of the demonstrated need of students eligible for financial aid. In fact, the 54 percent of current undergraduates who are need-eligible receive annual grants of over $48k per year, bringing Trinity’s tuition much more within reach. As a school that helps you develop professional networks and connects you to big-time employers, Trinity can be worth taking on a reasonable amount of debt in order to attend.