Only 3 in 100 get in: the most selective universities in US

Admission into the most exclusive universities in the United States is fiercely competitive, as top schools like Caltech now accept just 3% of applicants.

The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) tops the Business Insider ranking of the 35 U.S. universities with the lowest acceptance rates. During last year's admissions cycle, the university received nearly 11,300 applications but enrolled only 300 first-year students.

Students attend a commencement ceremony at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California, June 2026. Photo from the university's Facebook page

Also posting a 3% acceptance rate is Minerva University, which ranks second due to its extremely small incoming class of just over 100 students each year.

Many of the institutions on the June list boast prestigious reputations and long histories, including all eight Ivy League universities.

Others are highly specialized schools in science or the arts that admit only a few hundred students annually, such as the Juilliard School and the Washington University of Science and Technology.

Most of the universities rank among the top 50 U.S. research universities or the top 25 liberal arts colleges, with the exception of several unranked institutions, including some arts schools.

Rank

University

Acceptance rate

Tuition (US$/year)

1

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

3%

65,600

2

Minerva University

3%

29,800

3

Columbia University

4%

70,200

4

Yale University

4%

69,900

5

Stanford University

4%

67,700

6

Harvard University

4%

59,300

7

University of Chicago

4%

73,300

8

Northeastern University

5%

70,200

9

University of Pennsylvania

5%

65,700

10

Brown University

5%

71,700

11

Princeton University

5%

68,100

12

Dartmouth College

5%

71,700

13

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

5%

64,300

14

Curtis Institute of Music

5%

–

15

Duke University

6%

73,200

16

Johns Hopkins University

6%

67,200

17

Vanderbilt University

6%

67,900

18

Colby College

7%

75,800

19

Bowdoin College

7%

74,300

20

Swarthmore College

7%

79,800

21

Pomona College

7%

71,700

22

Washington University of Science and Technology

7%

68,200

23

Northwestern University

8%

70,600

24

Rice University

8%

71,100

25

Williams College

8%

76,300

26

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

9%

54,900

27

New York University (NYU)

9%

65,600

28

Cornell University

9%

71,300

29

U.S. Naval Academy

9%

–

30

Amherst College

9%

75,300

31

Barnard College

9%

73,100

32

The Juilliard School

9%

57,200

33

University of Southern California (USC)

10%

74,300

34

Claremont McKenna College

10%

75,300

35

Stanbridge University

10%

149,600 (entire program)

Annual tuition ranges from US$29,800 to US$79,800. Stanbridge University lists tuition for the entire degree program rather than by academic year. The Curtis Institute of Music provides full scholarships to all students, while the U.S. Naval Academy charges no tuition because it is fully funded by the federal government.

The ranking is based on data from the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics. Where institutions share the same acceptance rate, they are ranked by the number of applications received, with universities attracting more applicants placed higher.