Top 100 Colleges and Universities with Lowest Acceptance Rates in 2024

Colleges with lowest acceptance rates in 2024

Below you’ll find our list of top 100 colleges in the United States with the lowest rates of acceptance for entering freshman. While some colleges and universities will accept just about anyone who applies, these schools pride themselves on being very selective. These are some of the hardest colleges to get into.

See also: Top 100 Colleges and UniversitiesTop 100 Most Affordable UniversitiesTop 100 Most Affordable Community CollegesTop 100 Highest AcceptanceTop Colleges by Major

School NameAcceptance Rate
Stanford University
Stanford, California
3.95%
Curtis Institute of Music
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
4.2%
Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut
4.46%
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
5.4%
Juilliard School
New York City, New York
6.2%
Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey
6.5%
Columbia University
New York City, New York
6.8%
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
6.9%
Alice Lloyd College
Pippa Passes, Kentucky
7.1%
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
7.9%
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Cambridge, Massachusetts
7.9%
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California
8.1%
United States Naval Academy
Annapolis, Maryland
9%
Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island
9.3%
Pomona College
Claremont, California
9.4%
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
9.4%
Claremont McKenna College
Claremont, California
9.4%
United States Military Academy
West Point, New York
10%
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
Needham, Massachusetts
10.2%
Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire
10.6%
Northwestern University
Evanston, Illinois
10.7%
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, Tennessee
10.7%
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina
10.8%
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland
12.8%
Harvey Mudd College
Claremont, California
12.9%
Pitzer College
Claremont, California
13.7%
Amherst College
Amherst, Massachusetts
13.7%
College of the Ozarks
Point Lookout, Missouri
14.2%
Bowdoin College
Brunswick, Maine
14.8%
Cooper Union
New York City, New York
15.1%
Rice University
Houston, Texas
15.1%
University of California-Berkeley
Berkeley, California
16%
Mississippi Valley State University
Itta Bena, Mississippi
16.2%
United States Air Force Academy
USAF, Colorado
16.6%
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
17%
Washington University in St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
17.1%
Middlebury College >
Middlebury, Vermont
17.3%
Tufts University
Medford, Massachusetts
17.3%
Georgetown University
Washington, DC
17.4%
Rust College
Holly Springs, Mississippi
17.6%
Colorado College
Colorado Springs, Colorado
18%
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California
18%
United States Coast Guard Academy
New London, Connecticut
18.1%
University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA)
Los Angeles, California
18.5%
Williams College
Williamstown, Massachusetts
19.4%
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, Virginia
19.6%
Liberty University
Lynchburg, Virginia
20.3%
Florida Memorial University
Miami, Florida
20.5%
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana
21.5%
Davidson College
Davidso, North Carolina
21.7%
Missouri Valley College
Marshall, Missouri
22.2%
United States Merchant Marine Academy
Kings Point, New York
22.4%
Carleton College
Northfield, Minnesota
22.8%
Vassar College
Poughkeepsie, New York
23.5%
Barnard College
New York, New York
23.7%
Wesleyan University
Middletown, Connecticut
23.9%
Fort Valley State University
Fort Valley, Georgia
24.2%
Art Academy of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
24.3%
Robert Morris University
Chicago, Illinois
24.4%
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
24.6%
Haverford College
Haverford, Pennsylvania
24.7%
Kenyon College
Gambier, Ohio
25.1%
Bates College
Lewiston, Maine
25.4%
Jackson State University
Jackson, Mississippi
26.1%
Colgate University
Hamilton, New York
26.1%
Warner University
Lake Wales, Florida
26.2%
Babson College
Wellesley, Massachusetts
26.4%
Hamilton College
Clinton, New York
26.4%
Emory University
Atlanta, Georgia
26.8%
Lincoln University
Lincoln University, Pennsylvania
27.1%
Edward Waters College
Jacksonville, Florida
27.3%
Scripps College
Claremont, California
27.4%
California Institute of Arts
Valencia, California
27.7%
CUNY–Baruch College
New York City, New York
28%
Grinnell College
Grinnell, Iowa
28%
Tulane University
New Orleans, Los Angeles
28%
Colby College
Waterville, Maine
28.1%
College of New Rochelle
New Rochelle, New York
28.5%
University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
28.5%
CUNY–Lehman College
Bronx, New York
29%
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia
29%
Hampton University
Hampton, Virginia
29.1%
Lafayette College
Easton, Pennsylvania
29.8%
Chicago State University
Chicago, Illinois
30%
Calumet College of St. Joseph
Whiting, Indiana
30.3%
Wellesley College
Wellesley, Massachusetts
30.5%
Bucknell University
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
30.7%
California Polytechnic State University–San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, California
30.9%
Hope International University
Fullerton, California
31%
Wilson College
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
31.4%
Southwestern Adventist University
Keene, Texas
31.5%
University of Richmond
University of Richmond, Virginia
31.9%
Northeastern University
Boston, Massachusetts
32%
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, Michigan
32.3%
Ohio Valley University
Vienna, West Virginia
32.5%
Oberlin College
Oberlin, Ohio
32.7%
College of William and Mary
Williamsburg, Virginia
33%
Trinity College
Hartford, Connecticut
33%
Webb Institute
Glen Cove, New York
33%

Learn more about our ranking methodology.

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