Most selective private colleges
Ranked by how few applicants they admit. Every one of these is a reach for every applicant, whatever the numbers say.
30 colleges
- Stanford UniversityStanford, CA4% admit1510–1580 SATRequired
- Harvard UniversityCambridge, MA4% admit1510–1580 SATRequired
- Yale UniversityNew Haven, CT4% admit1470–1570 SATRequired
- Columbia University in the City of New YorkNew York, NY4% admit1510–1580 SATOptional
- New York University Abu DhabiAbu Dhabi4% admit1350–1550 SATOptional
- University of ChicagoChicago, IL4% admit1510–1580 SAT~4.97 GPAOptional
- Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridge, MA5% admit1520–1580 SATRequired
- Princeton UniversityPrinceton, NJ5% admit1510–1580 SATOptional
- Northeastern UniversityBoston, MA5% admit1440–1540 SATOptional
- Brown UniversityProvidence, RI5% admit1510–1580 SATRequired
- Dartmouth CollegeHanover, NH5% admit1500–1570 SATRequired
- University of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, PA5% admit1510–1570 SATRequired
- Duke UniversityDurham, NC6% admit1500–1570 SATOptional
- Vanderbilt UniversityNashville, TN6% admit1500–1570 SATOptional
- Johns Hopkins UniversityBaltimore, MD6% admit1520–1570 SATRequired
- Colby CollegeWaterville, ME7% admit1460–1550 SATOptional
- Pomona CollegeClaremont, CA7% admit1490–1560 SATOptional
- Bowdoin CollegeBrunswick, ME7% admit1470–1550 SATOptional
- Swarthmore CollegeSwarthmore, PA7% admit1490–1560 SATOptional
- Northwestern UniversityEvanston, IL8% admit1510–1570 SATOptional
- Rice UniversityHouston, TX8% admit1510–1570 SATOptional
- Williams CollegeWilliamstown, MA8% admit1490–1570 SATOptional
- Cornell UniversityIthaca, NY9% admit1500–1570 SATRequired
- Barnard CollegeNew York, NY9% admit1470–1560 SATOptional
- Amherst CollegeAmherst, MA9% admit1490–1580 SATOptional
- New York UniversityNew York, NY9% admit1480–1560 SATOptional
- Claremont McKenna CollegeClaremont, CA10% admit1470–1560 SATOptional
- University of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles, CA10% admit1450–1550 SAT~3.80 GPAOptional
- Emory UniversityAtlanta, GA11% admit1470–1550 SATOptional
- Middlebury CollegeMiddlebury, VT11% admit1445–1550 SATOptional
Acceptance rate and cost come from U.S. Department of Education reporting. Admitted SAT, ACT and GPA come from each college’s Common Data Set, where it publishes one. Every name links to that school’s full read.
Check your own numbers
Where do you stand at these schools?
Add your GPA and scores once. You get a read on every school on this list, and on whether the list you’re building adds up. No account.
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Common questions
How was most selective private colleges built?
From published federal reporting and each college’s own Common Data Set. It’s filtered and sorted on the number the list is about. It isn’t a ranking, and nobody set the order by hand.
What should I do with a list like this?
Use it to find schools worth a look. Then check each one against your own numbers. A school being on a list says nothing about whether it fits you. Fit is the question that matters.
What Spike does with this
A list is a start, not a plan.
Spike reads your whole profile against every school on it. Then it works on the parts a list can’t show.
The full counselor launches in November.