The Harvard Memorial Hall, at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Education

50 most selective colleges in America

Written by:
Ben Wittstein
March 15, 2023
Jon Bilous // Shutterstock

50 most selective colleges in America

While there is no shortage of exceptional colleges in the United States, there are millions of gifted kids across the nation jockeying for limited seats at some of America's top universities every year. Parents often go to great financial lengths to send their children to some of the nation's most prestigious schools, the likes of which include paying private school tuition, hiring personal tutors, or paying for test prep classes that typically cost upwards of $1,000.

Using data from the National Center for Education Statistics, Stacker listed the 50 most selective colleges in the United States. The institutions are ranked according to acceptance rates. Statistics pertaining to total acceptance and enrollment are provided for context. Stacker used the latest available NCES data for this story, ranking schools that received at least 1,000 applications for the 2020-2021 academic year.

Read on to see if your alma mater is among the most competitive schools in the nation today.

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#50. Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus, Georgia

- Acceptance rate: 15.96%
- Total accepted: 7,030 (44,048 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 3,453 (49.1% yield)

#49. University of Notre Dame, Indiana

- Acceptance rate: 15.07%
- Total accepted: 3,562 (23,642 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 2,059 (57.8% yield)

#48. Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York

- Acceptance rate: 14.68%
- Total accepted: 393 (2,678 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 210 (53.4% yield)

#47. University of California-Berkeley, California

- Acceptance rate: 14.44%
- Total accepted: 16,295 (112,843 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 6,931 (42.5% yield)

#46. Colorado College, Colorado

- Acceptance rate: 14.25%
- Total accepted: 1,564 (10,975 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 620 (39.6% yield)

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#45. Hamilton College, New York

- Acceptance rate: 14.07%
- Total accepted: 1,320 (9,380 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 533 (40.4% yield)

#44. Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania

- Acceptance rate: 13.54%
- Total accepted: 4,453 (32,896 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,896 (42.6% yield)

#43. Middlebury College, Vermont

- Acceptance rate: 13.45%
- Total accepted: 1,601 (11,906 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 680 (42.5% yield)

#42. Emory University, Georgia

- Acceptance rate: 13.05%
- Total accepted: 4,364 (33,435 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,494 (34.2% yield)

#41. Washington University in St Louis, Missouri

- Acceptance rate: 13.00%
- Total accepted: 4,373 (33,634 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,980 (45.3% yield)

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#40. New York University, New York

- Acceptance rate: 12.96%
- Total accepted: 12,380 (95,517 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 6,097 (49.2% yield)

#39. University of Southern California, California

- Acceptance rate: 12.51%
- Total accepted: 8,884 (71,031 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 3,668 (41.3% yield)

#38. United States Air Force Academy, Colorado

- Acceptance rate: 12.43%
- Total accepted: 1,453 (11,687 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,091 (75.1% yield)

#37. St. Andrews University, North Carolina

- Acceptance rate: 12.29%
- Total accepted: 266 (2,164 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 261 (98.1% yield)

#36. Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

- Acceptance rate: 11.98%
- Total accepted: 3,311 (27,629 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,585 (47.9% yield)

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#35. Barnard College, New York

- Acceptance rate: 11.47%
- Total accepted: 1,192 (10,395 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 769 (64.5% yield)

#34. Tufts University, Massachusetts

- Acceptance rate: 11.43%
- Total accepted: 3,566 (31,198 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,800 (50.5% yield)

#33. Claremont McKenna College, California

- Acceptance rate: 11.24%
- Total accepted: 633 (5,632 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 358 (56.6% yield)

#32. University of California-Los Angeles, California

- Acceptance rate: 10.77%
- Total accepted: 15,028 (139,489 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 6,584 (43.8% yield)

#31. United States Military Academy, New York

- Acceptance rate: 10.66%
- Total accepted: 1,488 (13,955 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,201 (80.7% yield)

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#30. Grinnell College, Iowa

- Acceptance rate: 10.54%
- Total accepted: 1,108 (10,513 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 471 (42.5% yield)

#29. Stanbridge University, California

- Acceptance rate: 10.50%
- Total accepted: 173 (1,648 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 161 (93.1% yield)

#28. Harvey Mudd College, California

- Acceptance rate: 9.99%
- Total accepted: 473 (4,737 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 225 (47.6% yield)

#27. Tulane University of Louisiana, Louisiana

- Acceptance rate: 9.63%
- Total accepted: 4,385 (45,525 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 2,027 (46.2% yield)

#26. Rice University, Texas

- Acceptance rate: 9.48%
- Total accepted: 2,802 (29,544 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,226 (43.8% yield)

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#25. Colby College, Maine

- Acceptance rate: 8.87%
- Total accepted: 1,407 (15,857 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 667 (47.4% yield)

#24. Williams College, Massachusetts

- Acceptance rate: 8.83%
- Total accepted: 1,099 (12,452 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 574 (52.2% yield)

#23. Bowdoin College, Maine

- Acceptance rate: 8.82%
- Total accepted: 822 (9,325 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 517 (62.9% yield)

#22. Amherst College, Massachusetts

- Acceptance rate: 8.74%
- Total accepted: 1,224 (13,999 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 515 (42.1% yield)

#21. Cornell University, New York

- Acceptance rate: 8.69%
- Total accepted: 5,852 (67,380 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 3,718 (63.5% yield)

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#20. United States Naval Academy, Maryland

- Acceptance rate: 8.45%
- Total accepted: 1,374 (16,265 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,183 (86.1% yield)

#19. Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania

- Acceptance rate: 7.79%
- Total accepted: 1,013 (13,012 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 454 (44.8% yield)

#18. Johns Hopkins University, Maryland

- Acceptance rate: 7.52%
- Total accepted: 2,972 (39,515 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,420 (47.8% yield)

#17. The Juilliard School, New York

- Acceptance rate: 7.43%
- Total accepted: 174 (2,342 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 110 (63.2% yield)

#16. Vanderbilt University, Tennessee

- Acceptance rate: 7.14%
- Total accepted: 3,368 (47,152 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,626 (48.3% yield)

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#15. Northwestern University, Illinois

- Acceptance rate: 6.97%
- Total accepted: 3,321 (47,636 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 2,086 (62.8% yield)

#14. Pomona College, California

- Acceptance rate: 6.64%
- Total accepted: 771 (11,620 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 451 (58.5% yield)

#13. University of Chicago, Illinois

- Acceptance rate: 6.48%
- Total accepted: 2,460 (37,974 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 2,053 (83.5% yield)

#12. Dartmouth College, New Hampshire

- Acceptance rate: 6.17%
- Total accepted: 1,750 (28,356 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,221 (69.8% yield)

#11. Duke University, North Carolina

- Acceptance rate: 5.89%
- Total accepted: 2,927 (49,703 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,744 (59.6% yield)

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#10. University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania

- Acceptance rate: 5.87%
- Total accepted: 3,304 (56,332 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 2,418 (73.2% yield)

#9. Brown University, Rhode Island

- Acceptance rate: 5.51%
- Total accepted: 2,568 (46,568 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,705 (66.4% yield)

#8. Yale University, Connecticut

- Acceptance rate: 5.31%
- Total accepted: 2,509 (47,240 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,786 (71.2% yield)

#7. Princeton University, New Jersey

- Acceptance rate: 4.38%
- Total accepted: 1,647 (37,601 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,290 (78.3% yield)

#6. Columbia University in the City of New York, New York

- Acceptance rate: 4.13%
- Total accepted: 2,524 (61,110 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,641 (65.0% yield)

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#5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts

- Acceptance rate: 4.11%
- Total accepted: 1,365 (33,240 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,177 (86.2% yield)

#4. Harvard University, Massachusetts

- Acceptance rate: 4.01%
- Total accepted: 2,318 (57,786 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,951 (84.2% yield)

#3. Stanford University, California

- Acceptance rate: 3.95%
- Total accepted: 2,190 (55,471 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 1,757 (80.2% yield)

#2. California Institute of Technology, California

- Acceptance rate: 3.92%
- Total accepted: 510 (13,026 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 270 (52.9% yield)

#1. Minerva University, California

- Acceptance rate: 1.02%
- Total accepted: 256 (25,026 total applicants)
- Total enrolled: 186 (72.7% yield)

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