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Tightest Colleges With Lowest Acceptance Rate

Tightest Colleges to Admit with Lowest Acceptance Rate

The following table lists the tightest (low acceptance rate) U.S. colleges and universities to admit. Those schools have been keeping the acceptance rate in low level in recent years. California Institute of Technology has the lowest acceptance rate as of 2.57% for academic year 2023-2024 in United States. For the ranking, we only include 4-years colleges with at least 100 new students (freshmen).
The following table shows the schools that have low acceptance rates with admission statistics and yield, also known as enrollment rate. You may want to check colleges having the highest acceptance rates.
Tightest Colleges to Admit with Lowest Acceptance Rate (2023-2024)
NameAcceptance Rate# of Applicants# of Admitted# of EnrolledYield
1California Institute of Technology
Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsPasadena, CA
2.57%13,85635621861.24%
2Minerva University
Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsSan Francisco, CA
3.04%10,86433014443.64%
3Stanford University
Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsStanford, CA
3.61%57,3262,0671,69381.91%
4Harvard University
Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsCambridge, MA
3.65%54,0081,9701,64783.60%
5Yale University
Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsNew Haven, CT
3.87%57,5172,2271,55469.78%
6Columbia University in the City of New York
Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsNew York, NY
3.99%60,1152,4001,55864.92%
7University of Chicago
Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsChicago, IL
4.48%43,6121,9551,72688.29%
8Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsCambridge, MA
4.55%28,2321,2841,10285.83%
9Princeton University
Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsPrinceton, NJ
4.62%40,4681,8681,41075.48%
10Northeastern University
Private (not-for-profit), four-yearsBoston, MA
5.22%98,4255,1332,75953.75%