How Selective are the Top US Universities?

Many people believe that the top universities are also the most selective. In other words, the higher the rank, the more difficult it is to be admitted.

The purpose of this short post is just to show you that this is not the case. Below I have listed the 50 most selective institutions of higher education in the U.S. for undergraduate admission.Yes, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. are high on the list, but what should surprise you is how many names you do not recognize! For a complete list of the most selective 500 universities and colleges, you can look here, which is where I found the data. Prepare to be e even more surprised.

1 Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute    1.90%    

2 Stanford University  4.00%        

3 Dallas Nursing Institute  4.90%  

4 Curtis Institute of Music  5.00%  

4  Harvard University  5.00%  

4  Princeton University  5.00%  

7 Columbia University in the City of New York 6.00%

7 Yale University 6.00%

9 California Institute of Technology 7.00%

10 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 7.00%

10 University of Chicago 7.00%

12 The Juilliard School 8.00%

13 Pomona College 8.00%

14 Brown University 8.00%

14 Northwestern University 8.00%

14 University of Pennsylvania 8.00%

17 Claremont McKenna College 9.00%

18 Dartmouth College 9.00%

18 Duke University 9.00%

18 Swarthmore College 9.00%

18 United States Naval Academy 9.00%

22 Bowdoin College 10.00%

22 Vanderbilt University 10.00%

24 Cornell University 11.00%

24 Johns Hopkins University 11.00%

24 Rice University 11.00%

24 United States Air Force Academy 11.00%

24 United States Military Academy 11.00%

29 College of the Ozarks 12.00%

30 Amherst College 13.00%

30 Colby College 13.00%

30 Pitzer College 13.00%

30 Williams College 13.00%

34 University of Southern California 13.00%

35 Barnard College 14.00%

36 Harvey Mudd College 14.00%

36 University of California-Los Angeles 14.00%

38 Bacone College 15.00%

39 Colorado College 15.00%

40 Georgetown University 15.00%

40 Tufts University 15.00%

40 University of California-Berkeley 15.00%

40 Washington University in St Louis 15.00%

44 Franklin W Olin College of Engineering 16.00%

45 Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art 16.00%

46 Middlebury College 17.00%

47 Carnegie Mellon University 17.00%

47 Tulane University of Louisiana 17.00%

47 Wesleyan University 17.00%

50 Inter American University of Puerto Rico-Metro 18.00%

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