These are the most selective public and private four-year colleges in Southwest. 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 Rice University which sent acceptance letters to only 9% of the 29,544 students who applied and rejected 91%.
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 Southwest colleges with the highest SAT scores, highest ACT scores and highest GPA's.
8 results
Private 4 Year
2 reviews
9% Acceptance Rate
#9 Best Colleges in America
Applications Due Jan 1
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
17% Acceptance Rate
Public 4 Year
3 reviews
29% Acceptance Rate
#12 Best Public Universities in America
Applications Due Dec 1
Public 4 Year
1 reviews
33% Acceptance Rate
#4 Best Public Universities in New Mexico
Applications Due Aug 24
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
34% Acceptance Rate
#2 Best Colleges in Texas
Applications Due Jan 15
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
42% Acceptance Rate
Private 4 Year
0 reviews
43% Acceptance Rate
#3 Best Value Colleges in Texas
Applications Due Jul 31
Private 4 Year
1 reviews
50% Acceptance Rate
Applications Due May 1