How Hard Is It To Get Into The University of Tokyo

The University of Tokyo is undisputedly the most selective and prestigious university in Japan. How hard is to to get in?

The 34% acceptance rate makes it look deceptively easy, but this is because you can only apply to 1-2 public universities a year in Japan, admissions are very heavily exam score based, and people who know they have a low chance of getting in don't apply. 

Basically, only people in the top 1% of Japanese entrance exam scores apply (equivalent to an SAT score of about 1530 out of 1600), and someone in the top 0.5% (equivalent to an SAT score of about 1570 out of 1600) has about a 50/50 chance of admission. This is a very crude estimate, however.

By comparison, the middle 50% SAT scores at Brown University, an Ivy League college, is 1520-1570. The average GPA of an entering student at Brown is 4.1. At Harvard, the 75th percentile SAT score is 1580 and an average of 1520. The average GPA of an entering student at Harvard is 4.0.

Other sources (I'm not bothered to relocate the links) have suggested that admission to the University of Tokyo takes a minimum of a U.S. GPA equivalent of at least 3.8 to 3.9, with closer to a 4.0 or better being highly desirable.

So, realistically, getting into the University of Tokyo is similar to getting into an Ivy League college in the U.S., on the academic front. But, unlike an Ivy League applicant in the U.S., you don't have to have out of this world exceptional level extracurricular activities and achievements, or a parent who went to the same college.