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
California Institute of Technology
3% acceptance
Get your real chances
CollegeCalcAI computes a personalized acceptance estimate from your GPA, scores, and activities. Free, no account to start.
100 schools
- California Institute of Technology3%acceptanceMost selectiveCA · SAT 1580
- Columbia University4%acceptanceMost selectiveNY · SAT 1560
- Harvard University4%acceptanceMost selectiveMA · SAT 1580
- Stanford University4%acceptanceMost selectiveCA · SAT 1570
- Yale University4%acceptanceMost selectiveCT · SAT 1570
- University of Chicago4%acceptanceMost selectiveIL · SAT 1570
- Brown University5%acceptanceMost selectiveRI · SAT 1560
- Dartmouth College5%acceptanceMost selectiveNH · SAT 1560
- Northeastern University5%acceptanceMost selectiveMA · SAT 1530
- Princeton University5%acceptanceMost selectiveNJ · SAT 1570
- University of Pennsylvania5%acceptanceMost selectivePA · SAT 1560
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology5%acceptanceMost selectiveMA · SAT 1570
- Duke University6%acceptanceMost selectiveNC · SAT 1570
- Vanderbilt University6%acceptanceMost selectiveTN · SAT 1560
- Johns Hopkins University6%acceptanceMost selectiveMD · SAT 1560
- Bowdoin College7%acceptanceMost selectiveME · SAT 1520
- Colby College7%acceptanceMost selectiveME · SAT 1500
- Pomona College7%acceptanceMost selectiveCA · SAT 1540
- Swarthmore College7%acceptanceMost selectivePA · SAT 1530
- Northwestern University8%acceptanceMost selectiveIL · SAT 1560
- Rice University8%acceptanceMost selectiveTX · SAT 1560
- Williams College8%acceptanceMost selectiveMA · SAT 1530
- Cornell University9%acceptanceMost selectiveNY · SAT 1550
- U.S. Naval Academy9%acceptanceMost selectiveMD · SAT 1400
- UCLA9%acceptanceMost selectiveCA · SAT 1510
- Amherst College9%acceptanceMost selectiveMA · SAT 1540
- New York University9%acceptanceMost selectiveNY · SAT 1530
- University of Southern California10%acceptanceMost selectiveCA · SAT 1530
- Claremont McKenna College10%acceptanceMost selectiveCA · SAT 1520
- Boston University11%acceptanceHighly selectiveMA · SAT 1500
- University of California, Berkeley11%acceptanceHighly selectiveCA · SAT 1530
- University of Notre Dame11%acceptanceHighly selectiveIN · SAT 1550
- Emory University11%acceptanceHighly selectiveGA · SAT 1520
- Middlebury College11%acceptanceHighly selectiveVT · SAT 1490
- Tufts University11%acceptanceHighly selectiveMA · SAT 1530
- U.S. Military Academy12%acceptanceHighly selectiveNY · SAT 1370
- Carnegie Mellon University12%acceptanceHighly selectivePA · SAT 1550
- Haverford College12%acceptanceHighly selectivePA · SAT 1500
- Washington University in St. Louis12%acceptanceHighly selectiveMO · SAT 1550
- College of the Ozarks12%acceptanceHighly selectiveMO · SAT 1120
- Davidson College13%acceptanceHighly selectiveNC · SAT 1470
- Georgetown University13%acceptanceHighly selectiveDC · SAT 1520
- Bates College13%acceptanceHighly selectiveME · SAT 1470
- Colgate University14%acceptanceHighly selectiveNY · SAT 1460
- Georgia Tech14%acceptanceHighly selectiveGA · SAT 1530
- Tulane University14%acceptanceHighly selectiveLA · SAT 1500
- U.S. Air Force Academy14%acceptanceHighly selectiveCO · SAT 1410
- Hamilton College14%acceptanceHighly selectiveNY · SAT 1500
- Washington and Lee University14%acceptanceHighly selectiveVA · SAT 1470
- Wellesley College14%acceptanceHighly selectiveMA · SAT 1500
- University of North Carolina15%acceptanceHighly selectiveNC · SAT 1470
- Grinnell College15%acceptanceHighly selectiveIA · SAT 1470
- Boston College16%acceptanceHighly selectiveMA · SAT 1520
- University of Michigan16%acceptanceHighly selectiveMI · SAT 1520
- Wesleyan University16%acceptanceHighly selectiveCT · SAT 1490
- University of Virginia17%acceptanceHighly selectiveVA · SAT 1510
- Babson College17%acceptanceHighly selectiveMA · SAT 1420
- Denison University17%acceptanceHighly selectiveOH · SAT 1400
- College of the Holy Cross18%acceptanceHighly selectiveMA · SAT 1400
- Colorado College18%acceptanceHighly selectiveCO · SAT 1440
- University of Miami19%acceptanceHighly selectiveFL · SAT 1480
- Berea College19%acceptanceHighly selectiveKY · SAT 1230
- Vassar College19%acceptanceHighly selectiveNY · SAT 1490
- Carleton College20%acceptanceHighly selectiveMN · SAT 1510
- Florida A&M University21%acceptanceHighly selectiveFL · SAT 1130
- Hillsdale College21%acceptanceHighly selectiveMI · SAT 1400
- Skidmore College21%acceptanceHighly selectiveNY · SAT 1390
- Smith College21%acceptanceHighly selectiveMA · SAT 1440
- University of Richmond22%acceptanceHighly selectiveVA · SAT 1430
- Wake Forest University22%acceptanceHighly selectiveNC · SAT 1490
- Crown College23%acceptanceHighly selectiveMN · SAT 1080
- Florida State University24%acceptanceHighly selectiveFL · SAT 1380
- University of Florida24%acceptanceHighly selectiveFL · SAT 1440
- Lehigh University26%acceptanceSelectivePA · SAT 1430
- Trinity University (TX)26%acceptanceSelectiveTX · SAT 1230
- UC San Diego27%acceptanceSelectiveCA · SAT 1490
- University of Texas at Austin27%acceptanceSelectiveTX · SAT 1460
- Villanova University27%acceptanceSelectivePA · SAT 1460
- Franklin & Marshall College28%acceptanceSelectivePA · SAT 1420
- Bucknell University29%acceptanceSelectivePA · SAT 1410
- UC Irvine29%acceptanceSelectiveCA · SAT 1420
- Bryn Mawr College29%acceptanceSelectivePA · SAT 1430
- Macalester College29%acceptanceSelectiveMN · SAT 1440
- Mississippi College29%acceptanceSelectiveMS · SAT 1150
- Trinity College29%acceptanceSelectiveCT · SAT 1400
- Cal Poly San Luis Obispo31%acceptanceSelectiveCA · SAT 1420
- Lafayette College31%acceptanceSelectivePA · SAT 1410
- Kenyon College31%acceptanceSelectiveOH · SAT 1420
- Fairfield University33%acceptanceSelectiveCT · SAT 1310
- UC Santa Barbara33%acceptanceSelectiveCA · SAT 1430
- Hope International University33%acceptanceSelectiveCA · SAT 1120
- William & Mary34%acceptanceSelectiveVA · SAT 1480
- Oberlin College34%acceptanceSelectiveOH · SAT 1430
- Southern University35%acceptanceSelectiveLA · SAT 1020
- Brescia University35%acceptanceSelectiveKY · SAT 1120
- San Diego State University36%acceptanceSelectiveCA · SAT 1340
- Mount Holyoke College36%acceptanceSelectiveMA · SAT 1380
- Case Western Reserve University37%acceptanceSelectiveOH · SAT 1480
- Connecticut College37%acceptanceSelectiveCT · SAT 1420
- Dickinson State University37%acceptanceSelectiveND · SAT 1100
Keep exploring
More ways to cut the data.
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.