In certain US institutions a single-digit acceptance rate signals high status.

As stronger high school applicants compete for fewer openings at leading universities a flawless GPA alone may fail to differentiate candidates in large pools. Selectivity at elite schools has grown stricter over time.

Harvard received 18190 applications in 1996 according to the campus newspaper and admitted only 10.9 percent marking the lowest rate then recorded.

For the Class of 2029 Harvard received 47893 applications and admitted 2003 students - a similar number of openings as three decades earlier - yielding a 4.2 percent acceptance rate.

Some of the toughest colleges to enter are large universities with tens of thousands of students while others are focused science or arts programs serving only a few hundred.

Business Insider reviewed the newest data from the National Center for Education Statistics College Navigator and selected the most selective schools admitting 10 percent or fewer applicants ranking them from lowest to highest acceptance rate for 2024-2025.

When acceptance rates matched the number of applicants determined placement with higher application totals ranked above others.

The ranking covers smaller specialized colleges whose selectivity arises from limited enrollment and focused programs yet institutions with applicant pools or enrollments below 100 were omitted because their rates are not comparable to typical four-year colleges.

See the hardest schools to get into in America.

35. Stanbridge University

Location: Irvine, California

Acceptance rate: 10%

Student population: 2928

Student-to-faculty ratio: 15 to 1

34. Claremont McKenna College

Location: Claremont, California

Acceptance rate: 10%

Student population: 1393

Student-to-faculty ratio: 8 to 1

33. University of Southern California

Location: Los Angeles

Acceptance rate: 10%

Student population: 46566

Student-to-faculty ratio: 9 to 1

32. The Juilliard School

Location: New York City

Acceptance rate: 9%

Student population: 1073

Student-to-faculty ratio: 4 to 1

31. Barnard College

Location: New York City

Acceptance rate: 9%

Student population: 3487

Student-to-faculty ratio: 10 to 1

30. Amherst College

Location: Amherst, Massachusetts

Acceptance rate: 9%

Student population: 1914

Student-to-faculty ratio: 6 to 1

29. United States Naval Academy

Location: Annapolis, Maryland

Acceptance rate: 9%

Student population: 4474

Student-to-faculty ratio: 8 to 1

28. Cornell University

Location: Ithaca, New York

Acceptance rate: 9%

Student population: 26793

Student-to-faculty ratio: 9 to 1

27. New York University

Location: New York City

Acceptance rate: 9%

Student population: 56832

Student-to-faculty ratio: 8 to 1

26. University of California-Los Angeles

Location: Los Angeles

Acceptance rate: 9%

Student population: 47335

Student-to-faculty ratio: 20 to 1

25. Williams College

Location: Williamstown, Massachusetts

Acceptance rate: 8%

Student population: 2164

Student-to-faculty ratio: 6 to 1

24. Rice University

Location: Houston

Acceptance rate: 8%

Student population: 8961

Student-to-faculty ratio: 6 to 1

23. Northwestern University

Location: Evanston, Illinois

Acceptance rate: 8%

Student population: 23856

Student-to-faculty ratio: 6 to 1

22. Washington University of Science and Technology

Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Acceptance rate: 7%

Student population: 1096

Student-to-faculty ratio: 14 to 1

21. Pomona College

Location: Claremont, California

Acceptance rate: 7%

Student population: 1700

Student-to-faculty ratio: 7 to 1

20. Swarthmore College

Location: Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

Acceptance rate: 7%

Student population: 1623

Student-to-faculty ratio: 7 to 1

19. Bowdoin College

Location: Brunswick, Maine

Acceptance rate: 7%

Student population: 1881

Student-to-faculty ratio: 9 to 1

18. Colby College

Location: Waterville, Maine

Acceptance rate: 7%

Student population: 2412

Student-to-faculty ratio: 9 to 1

17. Vanderbilt University

Location: Nashville

Acceptance rate: 6%

Student population: 13575

Student-to-faculty ratio: 8 to 1

16. Johns Hopkins University

Location: Baltimore

Acceptance rate: 6%

Student population: 30210

Student-to-faculty ratio: 6 to 1