Top 100 - Lowest Acceptance Rates

Many students aspire for admission to a prestigious college or university, but the supply of open seats often does not meet the demand from applicants. Earning admission to the schools on this list can be especially difficult. With the lowest acceptance rates among all undergraduate institutions surveyed by U.S. News, regardless of ranking category, the 100 colleges and universities listed here are among the most selective, based on the fall 2011 entering class.

Save	School	Fall 2011 acceptance rate
	Curtis Institute of Music Philadelphia, PA	3.2%
	Juilliard School New York, NY	6.0%
	Harvard University Cambridge, MA	6.3%
	Columbia University New York, NY	7.0%
	Stanford University Stanford, CA	7.1%
	United States Naval Academy Annapolis, MD	7.5%
	Cooper Union New York, NY	7.7%
	Yale University New Haven, CT	7.7%
	Princeton University Princeton, NJ	8.5%
	Brown University Providence, RI	8.9%
	College of the Ozarks Point Lookout, MO	8.9%
	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA	9.7%
	Dartmouth College Hanover, NH	10.1%
	Florida Memorial University ¹ Miami, FL	10.5% ⁴
	United States Military Academy West Point, NY	10.6%
	United States Air Force Academy USAF Academy, CO	10.8%
	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA	12.4%
	Berea College Berea, KY	12.5%
	California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA	12.8%
	Amherst College Amherst, MA	13.3%
	Duke University Durham, NC	14.0%
	Pomona College Claremont, CA	14.0%
	Claremont McKenna College Claremont, CA	14.1%
	Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA	15.1%
	Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME	16.1%

Save

School

Fall 2011 acceptance rate

Curtis Institute of Music

Philadelphia, PA

3.2%

Juilliard School

New York, NY

6.0%

Harvard University

Cambridge, MA

6.3%