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.
| College | Acceptance Rate |
|---|---|
|
Piedmont University
Demorest, Georgia |
93% |
|
Concordia University Chicago
River Forest, Illinois |
93% |
|
Rockford University
Rockford, Illinois |
93% |
|
Loyola University New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana |
93% |
|
University of Northwestern St Paul
Saint Paul, Minnesota |
93% |
|
Saint Mary's University of Minnesota
Winona, Minnesota |
93% |
|
The College of Saint Scholastica
Duluth, Minnesota |
93% |
|
Franklin Pierce University
Rindge, New Hampshire |
93% |
|
St. Thomas Aquinas College
Sparkill, New York |
93% |
|
Mercy College of Ohio
Toledo, Ohio |
93% |
|
Delaware Valley University
Doylestown, Pennsylvania |
93% |
|
King's College
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania |
93% |
|
Westminster College
New Wilmington, Pennsylvania |
93% |
|
Marymount University
Arlington, Virginia |
93% |
|
West Virginia Wesleyan College
Buckhannon, West Virginia |
93% |
|
Herzing University Brookfield
Brookfield, Wisconsin |
93% |
|
Laguna College of Art and Design
Laguna Beach, California |
94% |
|
Herzing University Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia |
94% |
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.