Most selective colleges in the U.S., by state

We rank 1149 colleges by acceptance rate across 40 states and 9 regions. Pick a state or region to see most selective colleges near you.

Top 50 nationwide

#	College	Type	Acceptance
1	California Institute of Technology · Pasadena, CA	Private	3%
2	Harvard University · Cambridge, MA	Private	3%
3	Stanford University · Stanford, CA	Private	4%
4	Columbia University in the City of New York · New York, NY	Private	4%
5	Princeton University · Princeton, NJ	Private	5%
6	Yale University · New Haven, CT	Private	5%
7	Massachusetts Institute of Technology · Cambridge, MA	Private	5%
8	University of Chicago · Chicago, IL	Private	5%
9	Brown University · Providence, RI	Private	5%
10	Northeastern University · Boston, MA	Private	6%
11	University of Pennsylvania · Philadelphia, PA	Private	6%
12	Dartmouth College · Hanover, NH	Private	6%
13	Vanderbilt University · Nashville, TN	Private	6%
14	Pomona College · Claremont, CA	Private	7%
15	Duke University · Durham, NC	Private	7%
16	Colby College · Waterville, ME	Private	7%
17	Swarthmore College · Swarthmore, PA	Private	7%
18	Curtis Institute of Music · Philadelphia, PA	Private	7%
19	Northwestern University · Evanston, IL	Private	7%
20	Johns Hopkins University · Baltimore, MD	Private	8%
21	Rice University · Houston, TX	Private	8%
22	Barnard College · New York, NY	Private	8%
23	Bowdoin College · Brunswick, ME	Private	8%
24	Cornell University · Ithaca, NY	Private	8%
25	University of California-Los Angeles · Los Angeles, CA	Public	9%
26	The Juilliard School · New York, NY	Private	9%
27	United States Naval Academy · Annapolis, MD	Public	9%
28	New York University · New York, NY	Private	9%
29	Amherst College · Amherst, MA	Private	10%
30	Williams College · Williamstown, MA	Private	10%
31	Pacific Oaks College · Pasadena, CA	Private	10%
32	University of Southern California · Los Angeles, CA	Private	10%
33	Tufts University · Medford, MA	Private	10%
34	Middlebury College · Middlebury, VT	Private	10%
35	Boston University · Boston, MA	Private	11%
36	Emory University · Atlanta, GA	Private	11%
37	Claremont McKenna College · Claremont, CA	Private	11%
38	Carnegie Mellon University · Pittsburgh, PA	Private	11%
39	Washington University of Science and Technology · Alexandria, VA	Private	11%
40	University of California-Berkeley · Berkeley, CA	Public	12%
41	Hamilton College · Clinton, NY	Private	12%
42	Colgate University · Hamilton, NY	Private	12%
43	Washington University in St Louis · St. Louis, MO	Private	12%
44	University of Notre Dame · Notre Dame, IN	Private	12%
45	Grinnell College · Grinnell, IA	Private	13%
46	Haverford College · Haverford, PA	Private	13%
47	Bates College · Lewiston, ME	Private	13%
48	Harvey Mudd College · Claremont, CA	Private	13%
49	Georgetown University · Washington, DC	Private	13%
50	Rhode Island School of Design · Providence, RI	Private	14%