United States Private Colleges Ranked by Lowest Acceptance Rate

Below is a ranking of the 1198 private colleges in the United States with the lowest acceptance rate for freshman undergraduate applications. California Institute of Technology leads the list by accepting 3% 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 Lowest Acceptance Rate
College	Acceptance Rate
Suffolk University Boston, Massachusetts	82%
Andrews University Berrien Springs, Michigan	82%
Baker College Owosso, Michigan	82%
Augsburg University Minneapolis, Minnesota	82%
Molloy University Rockville Centre, New York	82%
St Bonaventure University Saint Bonaventure, New York	82%
Muskingum University New Concord, Ohio	82%
Mount Aloysius College Cresson, Pennsylvania	82%
Baptist Health Sciences University Memphis, Tennessee	82%
Gonzaga University Spokane, Washington	82%
Williams Baptist University Walnut Ridge, Arkansas	83%
Dominican University of California San Rafael, California	83%
University of Redlands Redlands, California	83%
Thomas Aquinas College Santa Paula, California	83%
University of Bridgeport Bridgeport, Connecticut	83%
The Catholic University of America Washington, District Of Columbia	83%
Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah, Georgia	83%
Moody Bible Institute Chicago, Illinois	83%

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

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