HighSchoolOS The Most Selective Colleges in America
The hardest US colleges to get into this cycle, ranked by acceptance rate. Every school below admits only a small fraction of applicants, so treat any of them as a reach and build real targets and safeties underneath.
Explore this ranking interactively| # | School | Location | Acceptance | SAT avg | Net price | Grad rate | Undergrads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California Institute of Technology | Pasadena, CA | 2.6% | n/a | $16,075 | 94% | 987 |
| 2 | Minerva University | San Francisco, CA | 3.0% | n/a | n/a | n/a | 637 |
| 3 | Stanford University | Stanford, CA | 3.6% | 1,553 | $13,807 | 92% | 7,554 |
| 4 | Harvard University | Cambridge, MA | 3.6% | 1,553 | $19,066 | 98% | 7,601 |
| 5 | Yale University | New Haven, CT | 3.9% | 1,534 | $23,777 | 96% | 6,758 |
| 6 | Columbia University in the City of New York | New York, NY | 4.0% | 1,553 | $21,590 | 96% | 8,973 |
| 7 | University of Chicago | Chicago, IL | 4.5% | 1,554 | $14,860 | 96% | 7,569 |
| 8 | Princeton University | Princeton, NJ | 4.6% | 1,553 | $6,128 | 98% | 5,709 |
| 9 | Northeastern University | Boston, MA | 5.2% | 1,497 | $30,915 | 91% | 17,326 |
| 10 | Brown University | Providence, RI | 5.4% | 1,546 | $25,184 | 96% | 7,226 |
| 11 | University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, PA | 5.4% | 1,553 | $28,699 | 97% | 10,650 |
| 12 | Dartmouth College | Hanover, NH | 5.4% | 1,534 | $29,519 | 96% | 4,541 |
| 13 | Duke University | Durham, NC | 5.7% | 1,548 | $29,612 | 97% | 6,442 |
| 14 | Vanderbilt University | Nashville, TN | 5.9% | 1,549 | $15,846 | 94% | 7,208 |
| 15 | Johns Hopkins University | Baltimore, MD | 6.4% | 1,553 | $18,809 | 94% | 5,693 |
| 16 | Pomona College | Claremont, CA | 7.1% | 1,534 | $19,285 | 93% | 1,666 |
| 17 | Colby College | Waterville, ME | 7.1% | 1,501 | $17,180 | 89% | 2,407 |
| 18 | Bowdoin College | Brunswick, ME | 7.1% | 1,520 | $14,398 | 95% | 1,873 |
| 19 | Swarthmore College | Swarthmore, PA | 7.5% | 1,534 | $23,149 | 92% | 1,613 |
| 20 | Northwestern University | Evanston, IL | 7.7% | 1,533 | $29,167 | 95% | 9,201 |
| 21 | Rice University | Houston, TX | 8.0% | 1,553 | $13,370 | 95% | 4,776 |
| 22 | Williams College | Williamstown, MA | 8.3% | 1,533 | $17,716 | 94% | 2,076 |
| 23 | Cornell University | Ithaca, NY | 8.8% | 1,535 | $28,690 | 95% | 15,995 |
| 24 | Barnard College | New York, NY | 8.8% | 1,520 | $28,800 | 93% | 3,264 |
| 25 | Amherst College | Amherst, MA | 9.0% | 1,533 | $23,367 | 94% | 1,911 |
| 26 | New York University | New York, NY | 9.2% | 1,520 | $37,050 | 88% | 28,663 |
| 27 | Claremont McKenna College | Claremont, CA | 9.6% | 1,527 | $28,849 | 91% | 1,388 |
| 28 | University of Southern California | Los Angeles, CA | 9.8% | 1,495 | $32,740 | 92% | 20,443 |
| 29 | Emory University | Atlanta, GA | 10.7% | 1,520 | $22,585 | 91% | 7,298 |
| 30 | Middlebury College | Middlebury, VT | 10.8% | 1,508 | $31,483 | 91% | 2,738 |
| 31 | Boston University | Boston, MA | 11.1% | 1,480 | $24,402 | 89% | 18,248 |
| 32 | University of Notre Dame | Notre Dame, IN | 11.3% | 1,520 | $26,780 | 95% | 8,818 |
| 33 | Tufts University | Medford, MA | 11.5% | 1,513 | $39,998 | 94% | 7,061 |
| 34 | Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh, PA | 11.7% | 1,546 | $31,944 | 94% | 7,304 |
| 35 | Washington University in St Louis | St. Louis, MO | 12.1% | 1,530 | $21,786 | 94% | 7,857 |
| 36 | Haverford College | Haverford, PA | 12.4% | 1,513 | $25,314 | 90% | 1,430 |
| 37 | Harvey Mudd College | Claremont, CA | 12.7% | 1,545 | $35,924 | 92% | 921 |
| 38 | Bates College | Lewiston, ME | 13.3% | 1,468 | $29,351 | 90% | 1,760 |
| 39 | Davidson College | Davidson, NC | 13.4% | 1,469 | $17,379 | 91% | 1,867 |
| 40 | Hamilton College | Clinton, NY | 13.6% | 1,506 | $28,985 | 91% | 2,030 |
| 41 | Colgate University | Hamilton, NY | 13.9% | 1,508 | $28,786 | 91% | 3,180 |
| 42 | Washington and Lee University | Lexington, VA | 14.0% | 1,498 | $23,781 | 94% | 1,881 |
| 43 | Tulane University of Louisiana | New Orleans, LA | 14.0% | 1,448 | $39,949 | 86% | 7,767 |
| 44 | Webb Institute | Glen Cove, NY | 14.0% | 1,496 | $73,043 | 88% | 106 |
| 45 | Wellesley College | Wellesley, MA | 14.1% | 1,520 | $25,496 | 92% | 2,300 |
| 46 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | Atlanta, GA | 14.1% | 1,480 | $12,116 | 94% | 18,785 |
| 47 | United States Air Force Academy | USAF Academy, CO | 14.1% | 1,350 | n/a | 88% | 4,114 |
| 48 | Grinnell College | Grinnell, IA | 14.5% | 1,486 | $17,648 | 88% | 1,729 |
| 49 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Chapel Hill, NC | 15.3% | 1,439 | $11,655 | 91% | 20,752 |
| 50 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | Ann Arbor, MI | 15.6% | 1,465 | $13,138 | 93% | 34,177 |
Acceptance rate, net price (average cost after aid), and graduation rate are from the most recent federal data; test ranges and deadlines are verified against each school for the 2025-2026 cycle. Click any school for its full profile, deadlines, and supplemental essay prompts.