Top 100 Colleges And Ivy League Acceptance Rates

Before the waiting and wondering of whether your college applications were accepted by your dream school, let us take a look at the admissions rates of the United State's top 100 colleges and competitive Ivy League schools (all updated for 2019).


If you want to know the acceptance rates of the most competitive specialized versus non-specialized colleges and universities, see our previous blog.

Keeping in mind that various factors are evaluated on your college application, you should be exploring the admission rates of the schools you are interested in applying for. By doing so, you can properly prepare beforehand and reach for scores that correspond to the school's standard requirements.

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest” – Benjamin Franklin

Today's blog article will provide you with a convenient and easily-accessible list of 100 colleges and universities that are highly selective and thus, have lower acceptance rates for their freshmen class.

As every academic year is increasingly accompanied by a gifted and strongly passionate pool of students, the admissions office of many colleges and universities must make thorough assessments of student candidates for college acceptances.

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Genuine joy and happiness from students admitted to one of the most competitive and highly selective colleges, the University of Pennsylvania (Penn for short).

Prestigious colleges are desired by many, but the available supply of open seats often do not meet the demand from college applicants. Receiving an admissions letter from the following universities will be a worthy challenge for students looking to academically grow in a college environment.


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The list starts with the college that has the lowest admission rate. For your ease and comfort, we have bolded the colleges that are Ivy Leagues.

  1. Curtis Institute of Music - 4.9%

  2. Stanford University - 5.1%

  3. Harvard University - 6%

  4. Yale University - 6.3%

  5. Columbia University - 7%

  6. Alice Lloyd College - 7.1%

  7. Princeton University - 7.4%

  8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - 7.9%

  9. United States Naval Academy - 7.9%

  10. College of the Ozarks - 8.3%

  11. Julliard School - 8.4%

  12. Brown University - 8.7%

  13. California Institute of Technology - 8.8%

  14. University of Chicago - 8.8%

  15. United States Military Academy - 9.5%

  16. University of Pennsylvania - 10.5%

  17. Claremont McKenna College - 10.9%

  18. Duke University - 11.5%

  19. Dartmouth College - 11.5%

  20. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering - 12%

  21. Pomona College - 12.1%

  22. Pitzer College - 13%

  23. Northwestern University - 13.2%

  24. Vanderbilt University - 13.1%

  25. Amherst College - 13.8%

  26. Cornell University - 14.2%

  27. Harvey Mudd College - 14.4%

  28. Bowdoin College - 14.9%

  29. John Hopkins University - 15%

  30. Cooper Union - 15.1%

  31. Rice University - 15.1%

  32. University of California, Berkeley - 16%

  33. Mississippi Valley State University - 16.2%

  34. United States Air Force Academy - 16.6%

  35. Swarthmore College - 17%

  36. Washington University in St. Louis - 17.1%

  37. Middlebury College - 17.3%

  38. Tufts College - 17.3%

  39. Georgetown University - 17.4%

  40. Rust College 17.6%

  41. Colorado College - 18%

  42. University of Southern California - 18%

  43. United States Coast Guard Academy - 18.1%

  44. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - 18.5%

  45. Williams College - 19.4%

  46. Washington and Lee University - 19.6%

  47. Liberty University - 20.3%

  48. Florida Memorial University - 20.5%

  49. University of Notre Dame - 21.5%

  50. Davidson College - 21.7%

  51. Missouri Valley College - 22.2%

  52. United States Merchant Marine Academy - 22.4%

  53. Carleton College - 22.8%

  54. Vassar College - 23.5%

  55. Barnard College - 23.7%

  56. Wesleyan University - 23.9%

  57. Fort Valley State University - 24.2%

  58. Art Academy of Cincinnati - 24.3%

  59. Robert Morris University - 24.4%

  60. Carnegie Mellon University - 24.6%

  61. Haverford College - 24.7%

  62. Kenyon College - 25.1%

  63. Bates College - 25.4%

  64. Jackson State University - 26.1%

  65. Colgate University - 26.1%

  66. Warner University - 26.2%

  67. Babson College - 26.4%

  68. Hamilton College - 26.4%

  69. Emory University - 26.8%

  70. Lincoln University - 27.1%

  71. Edward Waters College - 27.3%

  72. Scripps College - 27.4%

  73. California Institute of Arts - 27.7%

  74. CUNY–Baruch College - 28%

  75. Grinnell College - 28%

  76. Tulane University - 28%

  77. Colby College - 28.1%

  78. College of New Rochelle - 28.5%

  79. University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill - 8.5%

  80. CUNY–Lehman College - 29%

  81. University of Virginia - 29%

  82. Hampton University - 29.1%

  83. Lafayette College - 29.8%

  84. Chicago State University - 30%

  85. Calumet College of St. Joseph - 30.3%

  86. Wellesley College - 30.5%

  87. Bucknell University - 30.7%

  88. California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo - 30.9%

  89. Hope International University - 31%

  90. Wilson College - 31.4%

  91. Southwestern Adventist University - 31.5%

  92. University of Richmond - 31.9%

  93. Northeastern University - 32%

  94. University of Michigan–Ann Arbor - 32.3%

  95. Ohio Valley University - 32.5%

  96. Oberlin College - 32.7%

  97. College of William and Mary - 33%

  98. Trinity College - 33%

  99. Webb Institute - 33%


As colleges regularly change their admission guidelines and rates, comment down below if you see any updates that need to be made to help other readers!


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