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
25% Acceptance Rate
#13 Best Private Colleges in Massachusetts
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
25% Acceptance Rate
Applications Due Jan 15
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
25% Acceptance Rate
Applications Due Jan 31
Private 4 Year
4 reviews
25% Acceptance Rate
#9 Best Private Colleges in Pennsylvania
Applications Due Jan 7
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
27% Acceptance Rate
Applications Due Apr 1
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
27% Acceptance Rate
Applications Due Sep 1
Private 4 Year
14 reviews
28% Acceptance Rate
#1 Best Private Colleges in Florida
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
28% Acceptance Rate
Applications Due Jul 1
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
28% Acceptance Rate
#13 Best Private Colleges in North Carolina
Applications Due May 1
Private 4 Year
2 reviews
28% Acceptance Rate
#3 Best Colleges in Ohio
Applications Due Jan 15
Public 4 Year
2 reviews
29% Acceptance Rate
#11 Best Public Universities in America
Applications Due Nov 30
Public 4 Year
3 reviews
29% Acceptance Rate
#17 Best Public Universities in America
Applications Due Nov 30
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
29% Acceptance Rate
Applications Due Jan 7
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
29% Acceptance Rate
#6 Best Private Colleges in Georgia
Applications Due Jul 1
Public 4 Year
3 reviews
29% Acceptance Rate
#12 Best Public Universities in America
Applications Due Dec 1
Private 4 Year
1 reviews
29% Acceptance Rate
#2 Best Colleges in Virginia
Applications Due Jan 15
Private 4 Year
1 reviews
30% Acceptance Rate
#6 Best Private Colleges in California
Applications Due Jan 1
Public 4 Year
6 reviews
30% Acceptance Rate
#7 Best Public Universities in America
Applications Due Nov 1