Top 100 Hardest Colleges to Get Into
These are the 100 most selective colleges in the CollegeCalcAI database, ranked by undergraduate acceptance rate. Every school links to its full admissions profile: what it weighs, where its admitted SAT range sits, and how it compares in its state.
Schools
100
Median acceptance
15%
Most selective
Harvard University
3% acceptance
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100 schools
- Harvard University3%acceptanceMost selectiveMA · SAT 1580
- California Institute of Technology3%acceptanceMost selectiveCA · SAT 1580
- Columbia University4%acceptanceMost selectiveNY · SAT 1560
- Princeton University4%acceptanceMost selectiveNJ · SAT 1570
- Stanford University4%acceptanceMost selectiveCA · SAT 1570
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology4%acceptanceMost selectiveMA · SAT 1570
- Brown University5%acceptanceMost selectiveRI · SAT 1560
- Yale University5%acceptanceMost selectiveCT · SAT 1570
- University of Chicago5%acceptanceMost selectiveIL · SAT 1570
- Dartmouth College6%acceptanceMost selectiveNH · SAT 1560
- Duke University6%acceptanceMost selectiveNC · SAT 1570
- University of Pennsylvania6%acceptanceMost selectivePA · SAT 1560
- Vanderbilt University6%acceptanceMost selectiveTN · SAT 1560
- Northeastern University7%acceptanceMost selectiveMA · SAT 1530
- Northwestern University7%acceptanceMost selectiveIL · SAT 1560
- Johns Hopkins University7%acceptanceMost selectiveMD · SAT 1560
- Pomona College7%acceptanceMost selectiveCA · SAT 1540
- Rice University8%acceptanceMost selectiveTX · SAT 1560
- U.S. Naval Academy8%acceptanceMost selectiveMD · SAT 1400
- New York University8%acceptanceMost selectiveNY · SAT 1530
- Cornell University9%acceptanceMost selectiveNY · SAT 1550
- UCLA9%acceptanceMost selectiveCA · SAT 1510
- Amherst College9%acceptanceMost selectiveMA · SAT 1540
- Bowdoin College9%acceptanceMost selectiveME · SAT 1520
- Claremont McKenna College9%acceptanceMost selectiveCA · SAT 1520
- Swarthmore College9%acceptanceMost selectivePA · SAT 1530
- Colby College10%acceptanceMost selectiveME · SAT 1500
- Tufts University10%acceptanceMost selectiveMA · SAT 1530
- Williams College10%acceptanceMost selectiveMA · SAT 1530
- Tulane University11%acceptanceHighly selectiveLA · SAT 1500
- U.S. Air Force Academy11%acceptanceHighly selectiveCO · SAT 1410
- University of California, Berkeley11%acceptanceHighly selectiveCA · SAT 1530
- Carnegie Mellon University11%acceptanceHighly selectivePA · SAT 1550
- Washington University in St. Louis11%acceptanceHighly selectiveMO · SAT 1550
- Georgetown University12%acceptanceHighly selectiveDC · SAT 1520
- U.S. Military Academy12%acceptanceHighly selectiveNY · SAT 1370
- University of Notre Dame12%acceptanceHighly selectiveIN · SAT 1550
- University of Southern California12%acceptanceHighly selectiveCA · SAT 1530
- Grinnell College12%acceptanceHighly selectiveIA · SAT 1470
- Hamilton College12%acceptanceHighly selectiveNY · SAT 1500
- Colorado College13%acceptanceHighly selectiveCO · SAT 1440
- Emory University13%acceptanceHighly selectiveGA · SAT 1520
- Haverford College13%acceptanceHighly selectivePA · SAT 1500
- Wellesley College13%acceptanceHighly selectiveMA · SAT 1500
- Boston University14%acceptanceHighly selectiveMA · SAT 1500
- Bates College14%acceptanceHighly selectiveME · SAT 1470
- Boston College15%acceptanceHighly selectiveMA · SAT 1520
- Colgate University15%acceptanceHighly selectiveNY · SAT 1460
- Middlebury College15%acceptanceHighly selectiveVT · SAT 1490
- Vassar College15%acceptanceHighly selectiveNY · SAT 1490
- Wesleyan University15%acceptanceHighly selectiveCT · SAT 1490
- Carleton College16%acceptanceHighly selectiveMN · SAT 1510
- Davidson College17%acceptanceHighly selectiveNC · SAT 1470
- Georgia Tech17%acceptanceHighly selectiveGA · SAT 1530
- University of North Carolina17%acceptanceHighly selectiveNC · SAT 1470
- Washington and Lee University17%acceptanceHighly selectiveVA · SAT 1470
- University of Michigan18%acceptanceHighly selectiveMI · SAT 1520
- University of Miami19%acceptanceHighly selectiveFL · SAT 1480
- University of Virginia19%acceptanceHighly selectiveVA · SAT 1510
- UC Irvine21%acceptanceHighly selectiveCA · SAT 1420
- Wake Forest University21%acceptanceHighly selectiveNC · SAT 1490
- Babson College22%acceptanceHighly selectiveMA · SAT 1420
- Smith College22%acceptanceHighly selectiveMA · SAT 1440
- University of Florida23%acceptanceHighly selectiveFL · SAT 1440
- Villanova University23%acceptanceHighly selectivePA · SAT 1460
- UC San Diego24%acceptanceHighly selectiveCA · SAT 1490
- University of Richmond24%acceptanceHighly selectiveVA · SAT 1430
- Florida State University25%acceptanceHighly selectiveFL · SAT 1380
- Franklin & Marshall College25%acceptanceHighly selectivePA · SAT 1420
- UC Santa Barbara26%acceptanceSelectiveCA · SAT 1430
- Denison University26%acceptanceSelectiveOH · SAT 1400
- Skidmore College26%acceptanceSelectiveNY · SAT 1390
- Cal Poly San Luis Obispo28%acceptanceSelectiveCA · SAT 1420
- Macalester College28%acceptanceSelectiveMN · SAT 1440
- Lafayette College30%acceptanceSelectivePA · SAT 1410
- Brandeis University30%acceptanceSelectiveMA · SAT 1460
- Bryn Mawr College30%acceptanceSelectivePA · SAT 1430
- Case Western Reserve University30%acceptanceSelectiveOH · SAT 1480
- Kenyon College30%acceptanceSelectiveOH · SAT 1420
- Trinity College30%acceptanceSelectiveCT · SAT 1400
- Paul Quinn College30%acceptanceSelectiveTX · SAT 930
- University of Texas at Austin31%acceptanceSelectiveTX · SAT 1460
- Bucknell University32%acceptanceSelectivePA · SAT 1410
- College of the Holy Cross32%acceptanceSelectiveMA · SAT 1400
- Lehigh University32%acceptanceSelectivePA · SAT 1430
- Hillsdale College32%acceptanceSelectiveMI · SAT 1400
- Oberlin College32%acceptanceSelectiveOH · SAT 1430
- William & Mary33%acceptanceSelectiveVA · SAT 1480
- Cal Poly Pomona33%acceptanceSelectiveCA · SAT 1300
- Connecticut College33%acceptanceSelectiveCT · SAT 1420
- Tuskegee University33%acceptanceSelectiveAL · SAT 1100
- Cal State Long Beach34%acceptanceSelectiveCA · SAT 1280
- Howard University34%acceptanceSelectiveDC · SAT 1280
- University of Rochester34%acceptanceSelectiveNY · SAT 1460
- Pepperdine University35%acceptanceSelectiveCA · SAT 1400
- Union College35%acceptanceSelectiveNY · SAT 1400
- Binghamton University36%acceptanceSelectiveNY · SAT 1430
- Stevens Institute of Technology36%acceptanceSelectiveNJ · SAT 1450
- Talladega College36%acceptanceSelectiveAL · SAT 980
- UC Davis37%acceptanceSelectiveCA · SAT 1380
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Acceptance rates and admitted test ranges reflect publicly reported data (U.S. Department of Education / NCES IPEDS / Common Data Sets) and are rounded. Estimates from CollegeCalcAI are a planning tool computed by a fixed, transparent model, not a guarantee of any admission decision.