College rankings are a great way to find the best colleges for you. With our new 2021 college rankings, we ranked the colleges with the lowest acceptance rates. These colleges offer a variety of different programs and disciplines, and they’re perfect for students who want to have a unique college experience.
Take a look at this list of top 100 colleges below and consider which one is right for you based on your impressive GPAs and academic credentials.
10 Colleges with Low Acceptance Rates
- Stanford University – Stanford, California: 3.9%
- Columbia University – New York City, New York: 3.9%
- Harvard University – Cambridge, Massachusetts: 4.0%
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – Cambridge, Massachusetts: 4.1%
- Curtis Institute of Music – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 4.2%
- Princeton University – Princeton, New Jersey: 4.4%
- University of Chicago – Chicago, Illinois: 6.2%
- Juilliard School – New York City, New York: 6.2%
- Yale University – New Haven, Connecticut: 6.3%
- Alice Lloyd College – Pippa Passes, Kentucky: 7.1%
Hardest Colleges To Get into With Less than 10% Acceptance Rate
Any college that has an acceptance rate of less than 15% is a reach school for all students
School Name | # of Applicants* | Acceptance Rate | Average SAT | Average ACT |
Stanford | 55,471 | 3.9% | 1510 | 34 |
Columbia | 60,551 | 3.9% | 1530 | 34 |
Harvard | 57,786 | 4.0% | 1520 | 34 |
MIT | 33,240 | 4.1% | 1540 | 35 |
Princeton | 37,601 | 4.4% | 1520 | 34 |
Yale | 46,905 | 4.6% | 1520 | 34 |
Brown | 46,568 | 5.4% | 1490 | 33 |
Duke | 49,517 | 5.8% | 1510 | 34 |
UPenn | 56,332 | 5.9% | 1520 | 35 |
UChicago | 34,400 | 6.2% | 1520 | 34 |
Dartmouth | 28,357 | 6.2% | 1500 | 34 |
Caltech | 8,007 | 6.7% | 1520 | 33 |
Vanderbilt | 47,174 | 6.7% | 1510 | 34 |
Northwestern | 47,633 | 6.8% | 1500 | 33 |
Johns Hopkins | 27,256 | 7.1% | 1510 | 34 |
Cornell | 67,380 | 8.7% | 1480 | 33 |
Rice | 29,554 | 9.5% | 1520 | 34 |
Colleges with Lowest Acceptance Rates – 10% and above
We ranked the hardest colleges with low acceptance rates that might be a good fit for your needs. Take a look at this list of top schools below and consider which one is right for you!
SCHOOL | LOCATION | FALL 2020 ACCEPTANCE RATE |
Colby College | Waterville, ME | 10% |
Cornell University | Ithaca, NY | 11% |
Rice University | Houston, TX | 11% |
Tulane University | New Orleans, LA | 11% |
Amherst College | Amherst, MA | 12% |
Vanderbilt University | Nashville, TN | 12% |
Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles | Los Angeles, CA | 13% |
Claremont McKenna College | Claremont, CA | 13% |
The United States Air Force Academy | USAF Academy, CO | 13% |
The United States Coast Guard Academy | New London, CT | 13% |
University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma | Chickasha, OK | 13% |
Barnard College | New York, NY | 14% |
Bates College | Lewiston, ME | 14% |
College of the Ozarks Point | Lookout, MO | 14% |
Colorado College | Colorado Springs, CO | 14% |
University of California – Los Angeles | Los Angeles, CA | 14% |
Wiley College | Marshall, TX | 15% |
Williams College | Williamstown, MA | 15% |
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering | Needham, MA | 16% |
Tufts University | Medford, MA | 16% |
The United States Merchant Marine Academy | Kings Point, NY | 16% |
University of Southern California | Los Angeles, CA | 16% |
Washington University in St. Louis | St. Louis, MO | 16% |
Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh, PA | 17% |
Georgetown University | Washington, DC | 17% |
Pitzer College | Claremont, CA | 17% |
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art | New York, NY | 18% |
Hamilton College | Clinton, NY 18% | 18% |
Harvey Mudd College | Claremont, CA | 18% |
Haverford College | Haverford, PA | 18% |
University of California – Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | 18% |
Emory University | Atlanta, GA | 19% |
Grinnell College | Grinnell, IA | 19% |
Texas Wesleyan University | Fort Worth, TX | 19% |
University of Notre Dame | Notre Dame, IN | 19% |
Boston University | Boston, MA | 20% |
Davidson College | Davidson, NC | 20% |
Northeastern University | Boston, MA | 20% |
Wellesley College | Wellesley, MA | 20% |
Carleton College | Northfield, MN | 21% |
Georgia Institute of Technology | Atlanta, GA | 21% |
Laboure College | Milton, MA | 21% |
New York University | New York, NY | 21% |
Philander Smith College | Little Rock, AR | 21% |
Webb Institute | Glen Cove, NY | 21% |
Wesleyan University | Middletown, CT | 21% |
Kettering College | Kettering, OH | 22% |
Middlebury College | Middlebury, VT | 22% |
University of Virginia | Charlottesville, VA | 23% |
New York School of Interior Design | New York, NY | 24% |
Ottawa University | Ottawa, KS | 24% |
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill | Chapel Hill, NC | 24% |
Washington and Lee University | Lexington, VA | 24% |
California Institute of the Arts | Valencia, CA | 25% |
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science | Los Angeles, CA | 25% |
Vassar College | Poughkeepsie, NY 25% | 25% |
Arkansas Baptist College | Little Rock, AR | 26% |
Boston College | Chestnut Hill, MA | 26% |
Calumet College of St. Joseph | Whiting, IN | 26% |
Inter American University of Puerto Rico – Metropolitan Campus | San Juan, PR | 26% |
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor | Ann Arbor, MI | 26% |
Babson College | Babson Park, MA | 27% |
Colgate University | Hamilton, NY 27% | 27% |
Rhode Island School of Design | Providence, RI | 27% |
Cabarrus College of Health Sciences | Concord, NC | 28% |
Denison University | Granville, OH | 28% |
Mississippi College | Clinton, MS | 29% |
Point University | West Point, GA | 29% |
St Luke’s College | Sioux City, IA | 29% |
University of North Carolina School of the Arts | Winston-Salem, NC | 29% |
Case Western Reserve University | Cleveland, OH | 30% |
Galen College of Nursing – Louisville | Louisville, KY | 30% |
Purdue University – Northwest | Hammond, IN | 30% |
University of California – Irvine | Irvine, CA | 30% |
Art Academy of Cincinnati | Cincinnati, OH | 31% |
Davis College | Bible School Park, NY | 31% |
Johnson University (FL) | Kissimmee, FL | 31% |
University of Florida | Gainesville, FL | 31% |
The list is based on data from various sources, including U.S. News & World Report and Niche.com rankings, it includes a variety of schools, both public and private.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/lowest-acceptance-rate
https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/hardest-to-get-in/
https://www.educationcorner.com/colleges-with-lowest-acceptance-rates.html