United States Private Colleges Ranked by Highest Acceptance Rate

Below is a ranking of the 1198 private colleges in the United States with the highest acceptance rate for freshman undergraduate applications. Amridge University leads the list by accepting 100% of high school students that applied.

Acceptance rate is a measure of the competitiveness of a school. Lower acceptance rates are more competitive and may require a higher GPA, SAT/ACT score, and other factors to be considered for admission.

List of United States Private Colleges Ranked by Highest Acceptance Rate
College	Acceptance Rate
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, New York	63%
Erskine College Due West, South Carolina	63%
Lincoln Memorial University Harrogate, Tennessee	63%
Southern Methodist University Dallas, Texas	63%
Wheeling University Wheeling, West Virginia	63%
Beloit College Beloit, Wisconsin	63%
Stillman College Tuscaloosa, Alabama	62%
University of San Francisco San Francisco, California	62%
Vanguard University of Southern California Costa Mesa, California	62%
American University Washington, District Of Columbia	62%
Agnes Scott College Decatur, Georgia	62%
LaGrange College Lagrange, Georgia	62%
Reinhardt University Waleska, Georgia	62%
Sarah Lawrence College Bronxville, New York	62%
Queens University of Charlotte Charlotte, North Carolina	62%
Mid Atlantic Christian University Elizabeth City, North Carolina	62%
University of Tulsa Tulsa, Oklahoma	62%
Chatham University Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	62%

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This list is updated annually based on the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Last updated: March 15, 2026

Data source: IPEDS 2025 survey for academic year 2024/2025 - National Center for Education Statistics.