These are the most selective public and private four-year colleges in Massachusetts. 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 Harvard University which sent acceptance letters to only 3% of the 61,221 students who applied and rejected 97%.
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 rankings of Massachusetts colleges with the highest SAT scores, highest ACT scores and highest GPA's.
21 results
Private 4 Year
4 reviews
3% Acceptance Rate
#4 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
2 reviews
4% Acceptance Rate
#8 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
7% Acceptance Rate
#16 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 2
Private 4 Year
5 reviews
7% Acceptance Rate
#16 Best Private Colleges in Massachusetts
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
1 reviews
8% Acceptance Rate
#13 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 10
Private 4 Year
2 reviews
10% Acceptance Rate
#6 Best Private Colleges in Massachusetts
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
9 reviews
14% Acceptance Rate
#9 Best Private Colleges in Massachusetts
Applications Due Jan 4
Private 4 Year
1 reviews
14% Acceptance Rate
#17 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 8
Private 4 Year
4 reviews
17% Acceptance Rate
#7 Best Private Colleges in Massachusetts
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
1 reviews
19% Acceptance Rate
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
1 reviews
22% Acceptance Rate
#15 Best Private Colleges in Massachusetts
Applications Due Jan 3
Private 4 Year
1 reviews
23% Acceptance Rate
#8 Best Private Colleges in Massachusetts
Applications Due Jan 15
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
36% Acceptance Rate
#11 Best Private Colleges in Massachusetts
Applications Due Jan 15
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
38% Acceptance Rate
Applications Due Dec 1
Private 4 Year
1 reviews
39% Acceptance Rate
#12 Best Private Colleges in Massachusetts
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
39% Acceptance Rate
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
40% Acceptance Rate
#10 Best Private Colleges in Massachusetts
Applications Due Jan 15
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
43% Acceptance Rate
#21 Best Private Colleges in Massachusetts
Applications Due Feb 20