Colleges with the Lowest Acceptance Rate in America for 2023
These are the most selective public and private four-year colleges in the United States. The list is ranked by acceptance rate, lowest to highest and limited to schools which reject at least half of all applicants. Leading the list is California Institute of Technology which sent acceptance letters to only 4% of the 13,026 students who applied and rejected 96%.
Not all schools on the most selective list are overly academically challenging. Some schools with less rigorous test and high school GPA requirements may receive a large numbers of qualified applicants and the school does not have space to admit them all.
If you're looking for challenging colleges, explore US rankings of the colleges with the highest SAT scores, highest ACT scores and highest GPA's.
204 results nationwide
Private 4 Year
1 reviews
4% Acceptance Rate
#7 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
4 reviews
4% Acceptance Rate
#4 Best Colleges in America
Private 4 Year
2 reviews
4% Acceptance Rate
#8 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
1 reviews
4% Acceptance Rate
#1 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
4% Acceptance Rate
#21 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
4% Acceptance Rate
#21 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
6 reviews
4% Acceptance Rate
#2 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 3
Private 4 Year
2 reviews
5% Acceptance Rate
#5 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Dec 31
Private 4 Year
3 reviews
6% Acceptance Rate
#6 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
4 reviews
6% Acceptance Rate
#12 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
5 reviews
6% Acceptance Rate
#3 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 2
Private 4 Year
3 reviews
6% Acceptance Rate
#16 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
2 reviews
6% Acceptance Rate
#11 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
7% Acceptance Rate
#19 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Dec 15
Private 4 Year
1 reviews
7% Acceptance Rate
#13 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
3 reviews
7% Acceptance Rate
Applications Due Dec 1
Private 4 Year
5 reviews
7% Acceptance Rate
#15 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
1 reviews
8% Acceptance Rate
#10 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Apr 1