Major Colleges in US With Lowest Acceptance Rates
A College that receives a higher number of applicants may reduce your admission success. (The following acceptance rates are based on admission numbers from 2021, but likely hold today.)
College acceptance rates generally decrease for higher ranked institutions. See Top Twenty Colleges in the World here. Additionally, Acceptance rates may be lower for colleges in population centers.
Note: There are colleges in the top fifty (Tier One Colleges) with acceptance rates >40%.
California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 4% Harvard University Cambridge, MA 4% Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 4% Princeton University Princeton, NJ 4% Stanford University Stanford, CA 4% Yale University New Haven, CT 5% Brown University Providence, RI 6% Columbia University New York, NY 6% Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 6% Duke University Durham, NC 6% University of Chicago Chicago, IL 6% University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 6% Northwestern University Evanston, IL 7% Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN 7% Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD 8% Cornell University Ithaca, NY 9% Rice University Houston, TX 9% Tufts University Medford, MA 11% University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 11% Emory University Atlanta, GA 13% New York University New York, NY 13% University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 13% Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO 13% Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 14% University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA 15% University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN 15% Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 18% Northeastern University Boston, MA 18% Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA 19% Boston University Boston, MA 19% University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 19% University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI 20% University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 21% University of Miami Coral Gables, FL 28% University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 29% University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 29% University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX 29% Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH 30% University of Florida Gainesville, FL 30%
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