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
University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis Saint Louis, Missouri	90%
Saint Peter's University Jersey City, New Jersey	90%
Beth Hamedrash Shaarei Yosher Institute Brooklyn, New York	90%
Metropolitan College of New York New York, New York	90%
Pacific University Forest Grove, Oregon	90%
Gwynedd Mercy University Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania	90%
Robert Morris University Moon Township, Pennsylvania	90%
Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	90%
Waynesburg University Waynesburg, Pennsylvania	90%
Newberry College Newberry, South Carolina	90%
Carson Newman University Jefferson City, Tennessee	90%
Hardin Simmons University Abilene, Texas	90%
University of St Thomas Houston, Texas	90%
Saint Martin's University Lacey, Washington	90%
Whitworth University Spokane, Washington	90%
Yeshiva Gedolah of Greater Detroit Oak Park, Michigan	90%
Yeshivas Novominsk Brooklyn, New York	90%
California College of the Arts San Francisco, California	91%

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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.