Skip to content

Most Selective Universities (Lowest Acceptance Rate)

Highest Earnings Most Selective Most Affordable Best Graduation Rate Largest
#UniversityState Acceptance Rate
1 California Institute of Technology CA 3.1%
2 Harvard University MA 3.5%
3 Minerva University CA 3.6%
4 Stanford University CA 3.9%
5 Columbia University in the City of New York NY 4.2%
6 Princeton University NJ 4.5%
7 Yale University CT 4.5%
8 Massachusetts Institute of Technology MA 4.7%
9 University of Chicago IL 4.8%
10 Brown University RI 5.2%
11 Northeastern University MA 5.6%
12 University of Pennsylvania PA 5.9%
13 Dartmouth College NH 6.2%
14 Vanderbilt University TN 6.3%
15 Pomona College CA 6.8%
16 Duke University NC 6.8%
17 Colby College ME 6.8%
18 Swarthmore College PA 6.9%
19 Curtis Institute of Music PA 7.0%
20 Northwestern University IL 7.2%
21 Johns Hopkins University MD 7.6%
22 Rice University TX 7.9%
23 Barnard College NY 8.0%
24 Bowdoin College ME 8.0%
25 Cornell University NY 8.2%
26 University of California-Los Angeles CA 8.7%
27 The Juilliard School NY 9.0%
28 United States Naval Academy MD 9.4%
29 New York University NY 9.4%
30 Amherst College MA 9.8%
31 Williams College MA 10.0%
32 Pacific Oaks College CA 10.0%
33 University of Southern California CA 10.0%
34 Tufts University MA 10.1%
35 Middlebury College VT 10.4%
36 Boston University MA 10.8%
37 Emory University GA 11.1%
38 Claremont McKenna College CA 11.1%
39 Stanbridge University CA 11.4%
40 Carnegie Mellon University PA 11.4%
41 Washington University of Science and Technology VA 11.5%
42 University of California-Berkeley CA 11.7%
43 Hamilton College NY 11.8%
44 Colgate University NY 12.0%
45 Washington University in St Louis MO 12.0%
46 University of Notre Dame IN 12.4%
47 Grinnell College IA 12.7%
48 Haverford College PA 12.9%
49 Bates College ME 13.0%
50 Harvey Mudd College CA 13.1%
← All Universities · California · New York · Massachusetts