PlainCollege

Top 100 Most Selective Colleges

The hardest colleges to get into, ranked by acceptance rate.

Rank School Name State Acceptance Rate SAT Avg
1 California Institute of Technology CA 3.1% —
2 Harvard University MA 3.5% 1,553
3 Minerva University CA 3.5% —
4 Circle in the Square Theatre School NY 3.8% —
5 Stanford University CA 3.9% 1,553
6 Columbia University in the City of New York NY 4.2% 1,547
7 Yale University CT 4.5% 1,534
8 Princeton University NJ 4.5% 1,535
9 Massachusetts Institute of Technology MA 4.7% 1,553
10 University of Chicago IL 4.8% 1,554
11 Brown University RI 5.2% 1,546
12 Northeastern University MA 5.7% 1,505
13 University of Pennsylvania PA 5.9% 1,545
14 Dartmouth College NH 6.2% 1,533
15 Vanderbilt University TN 6.3% 1,550
16 Pomona College CA 6.8% 1,520
17 Duke University NC 6.8% 1,539
18 Colby College ME 6.8% 1,500
19 Swarthmore College PA 6.9% 1,527
20 Curtis Institute of Music PA 7.0% —
21 Northwestern University IL 7.1% 1,526
22 Johns Hopkins University MD 7.6% 1,553
23 Rice University TX 7.9% 1,553
24 Barnard College NY 8.0% 1,500
25 Bowdoin College ME 8.0% 1,514
26 Cornell University NY 8.2% 1,520
27 University of California-Los Angeles CA 8.7% —
28 The Juilliard School NY 9.0% —
29 United States Naval Academy MD 9.4% 1,308
30 New York University NY 9.4% 1,527
31 Amherst College MA 9.8% 1,494
32 Williams College MA 10.0% 1,527
33 Pacific Oaks College CA 10.0% —
34 University of Southern California CA 10.0% 1,501
35 Tufts University MA 10.1% 1,513
36 Middlebury College VT 10.4% 1,500
37 Boston University MA 10.8% 1,473
38 Emory University GA 11.1% 1,507
39 Claremont McKenna College CA 11.1% 1,514
40 Stanbridge University CA 11.4% —
41 Carnegie Mellon University PA 11.4% 1,545
42 Washington University of Science and Technology VA 11.5% —
43 University of California-Berkeley CA 11.7% —
44 Hamilton College NY 11.8% 1,487
45 Colgate University NY 11.9% 1,480
46 Washington University in St Louis MO 12.0% 1,530
47 University of Notre Dame IN 12.4% 1,510
48 Grinnell College IA 12.7% 1,486
49 Haverford College PA 12.9% 1,498
50 Bates College ME 13.0% 1,446
51 Harvey Mudd College CA 13.1% 1,537
52 Georgetown University DC 13.1% 1,494
53 Rhode Island School of Design RI 13.8% 1,480
54 Wellesley College MA 13.9% 1,513
55 United States Air Force Academy CO 13.9% 1,362
56 United States Military Academy NY 14.0% 1,355
57 Summit Christian College NE 14.3% —
58 Davidson College NC 14.5% 1,448
59 Tulane University of Louisiana LA 14.6% 1,443
60 College of the Ozarks MO 14.9% 1,125
61 Boston College MA 15.7% 1,501
62 Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus GA 16.5% 1,447
63 Northeastern University Oakland CA 16.5% 1,472
64 Pitzer College CA 16.7% —
65 Riverside College of Health Careers VA 16.7% —
66 University of Virginia-Main Campus VA 16.9% 1,488
67 Denison University OH 16.9% 1,395
68 Good Samaritan College of Nursing and Health Science OH 16.9% —
69 Wesleyan University CT 17.1% 1,513
70 Emory University-Oxford College GA 17.3% 1,513
71 Washington and Lee University VA 17.4% 1,504
72 Vassar College NY 17.7% 1,513
73 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor MI 17.9% 1,473
74 University of Miami FL 18.5% 1,416
75 Center for Allied Health Education NY 18.5% —
76 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill NC 18.7% 1,454
77 The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art NY 19.1% 1,480
78 Smith College MA 19.7% 1,480
79 Babson College MA 19.7% 1,435
80 Webb Institute NY 20.0% 1,480
81 Colorado College CO 20.0% 1,445
82 Reading Hospital School of Health Sciences PA 20.4% —
83 Hillsdale College MI 20.6% 1,433
84 National Institute for Medical Assistant Advancement (NIMAA) CO 20.7% —
85 College of the Holy Cross MA 21.1% 1,354
86 Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University FL 21.1% 1,100
87 Wake Forest University NC 21.6% 1,469
88 Trine University-Regional/Non-Traditional Campuses IN 21.6% —
89 Franklin W Olin College of Engineering MA 21.7% 1,540
90 Standard Healthcare Services-College of Nursing VA 21.9% —
91 Carleton College MN 22.3% 1,491
92 Skidmore College NY 22.9% 1,388
93 Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary TX 23.1% —
94 University of Richmond VA 23.3% 1,474
95 Grambling State University LA 23.7% 955
96 Helene Fuld College of Nursing NY 23.8% —
97 University of Florida FL 24.0% 1,397
98 United States Coast Guard Academy CT 24.3% 1,290
99 University of California-San Diego CA 24.5% —
100 Alcorn State University MS 24.7% 1,039

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by admission rate (lowest first). Only schools that report admission rates greater than 0% are included. SAT averages are shown where available. All data comes from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.