The 50 Most Difficult Colleges to Get Into

16. Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute acceptance rate: 2%

Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash

Niche compiled this list by considering U.S. Department of Education data, SAT and ACT scores of applicants and acceptance rates. To arrive at these rankings, acceptance rates are weighted at 60 percent, and SAT/ACT scores are weighted at 40 percent. So you’ll see that some higher-ranking schools may have higher acceptance rates; those schools have higher bars for test scores.

Here are the 50 most difficult schools to get into:

50. Vassar College

acceptance rate: 24%

49. Emory University

acceptance rate: 22%

48. Tulane University

acceptance rate: 21%

47. Washington and Lee University

acceptance rate: 22%

46. Pitzer College

acceptance rate: 16%

45. Davidson College

acceptance rate: 20%

44. University of California — Los Angeles

acceptance rate: 16%

43. Colorado College

acceptance rate: 15%

42. Haverford College

acceptance rate: 22%

41. United States Military Academy at West Point

acceptance rate: 10%

40. Carleton College

acceptance rate: 21%

39. Carnegie Mellon University

acceptance rate: 22%

38. University of California — Berkeley

acceptance rate: 17%

37. the United States Air Force Academy

acceptance rate: 12%

36. University of Southern California

acceptance rate: 17%

35. Wesleyan University

acceptance rate: 16%

34. Colby College

acceptance rate: 16%

33. Middlebury College