What Are the Colleges with Lowest Acceptance Rates

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