10 Universities Where the Fewest Applicants Get In
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Admissions at a top-ranked college or university is becoming more difficult with each passing year.
"Gone are the days when a high GPA and top SAT score will get you through the gates of Harvard," says Kristen Moon, founder of Atlanta-based MoonPrep.com, which advises parents and students on the college application process. "Actually, you're lucky if it gets you up the stairs to NYU -- the college admissions game is more competitive than ever."
The good news is the average acceptance rate at U.S. colleges and universities was 65.8 percent for students entering in the 2014-2015 school year, a slight uptick from 64.7 percent the prior year, according to a National Association for College Admission Counseling report.
[Discover the competitive landscape of college admissions today.]
In fact, U.S. News data show that nearly 80 percent of ranked schools accepted more than half of students who applied in the 2015-2016 academic year among the 1,254 ranked schools that submitted these data in an annual survey.
But for students applying at one of the 10 most selective schools in the U.S., the admissions rate was an average of 7.4 percent for students entering in fall 2015.
Stanford University in California was the most selective among these schools. In the 2017 edition of Best Colleges, U.S. News data show the school received 42,497 applications and offered acceptance letters to 2,140 students -- an acceptance rate of 5 percent. That's about the same as fall 2014 when Stanford accepted 5.1 percent of applicants.
[Explore college admissions trends at top National Universities in four graphs.]
A school that has become more selective is the California Institute of Technology. Caltech accepted 8.8 percent of applicants for the fall 2015 entering class compared with 10 percent the prior year.
On the other end of the spectrum, 10 ranked schools accepted 100 percent of those who applied for fall 2015. Among them are Bismarck State College in North Dakota, tied at No. 56 among Regional Colleges (Midwest); Weber State University in Utah, tied at No. 76 among Regional Universities (West); and Wayne State College in Nebraska, tied at No. 94 among Regional Universities (Midwest).
Here are the 10 ranked colleges and universities with the lowest acceptance rates based on the fall 2015 entering class. Unranked colleges, which did not submit enough data for U.S. News to calculate a ranking, were not considered for this report.
School name (state) | Fall 2015 acceptance rate | U.S. News rank and category |
5% | 5 (tie), National Universities | |
5.6% | 2, National Universities | |
6.1% | 5 (tie), National Universities | |
6.7% | 3 (tie), National Universities | |
7.1% | 1, National Universities | |
8.3% | 7, National Universities | |
University of Chicago | 8.4% | 3 (tie), National Universities |
8.5% | 12 (tie), National Liberal Arts Colleges | |
8.8% | 12 (tie), National Universities | |
9.5% | 14, National Universities |
Don't see your school on the list? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find acceptance rates, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.
U.S. News surveyed more than 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2016 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The acceptance rate data above are correct as of Sept. 29, 2016.
Farran Powell is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering paying for college and graduate school. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at fpowell@usnews.com.
