Acceptance Rates of the Top 100 US Colleges are what we will be discussing in this article.
Who wouldn’t want to study at one of the best universities in the United States, if money wasn’t a reason? But, even if you can afford it, this won’t be enough. Competition can be tough, so every extra piece of information is a plus.
That’s why we collected the acceptance rates for the top 100 Colleges in the U.S. as featured in the latest QS Rankings, from TopUniversities.com.
What is Acceptance Rate at US College?
It’s the percentage of students that a school admits to their incoming class based on the total number of students that applied. The acceptance rate is calculated by dividing the number of accepted students by the total number of applications.
The following are the top US Colleges that are very much tough to get admitted into based on their acceptance rates from the higher side to lower as their ranking increases in the following list.
Acceptance Rates of Top 100 US Colleges
| Universities | States | Acceptance Rate 2022 |
| Plaza College | Forest Hills, NY | 30% |
| University of California–Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara, CA | 30% |
| Denison University | Granville, OH | 29% |
| Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology–Okmulgee | Okmulgee, OK | 29% |
| Trinity University | San Antonio, TX | 29% |
| University of North Carolina School of the Arts | Winston-Salem, NC | 29% |
| California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo | San Luis Obispo, CA | 28% |
| University of Puerto Rico–Aguadilla | Aguadilla, PR | 28% |
| University of Richmond | Univ. of Richmond, VA | 28% |
| Villanova University | Villanova, PA | 28% |
| Boston College | Chestnut Hill, MA | 27% |
| Case Western Reserve University | Cleveland, OH | 27% |
| Inter American University of Puerto Rico–Bayamon | Bayamon, PR | 27% |
| Kettering College | Kettering, OH | 27% |
| University of California–Irvine | Irvine, CA | 27% |
| University of Miami | Coral Gables, FL | 27% |
| Arkansas Baptist College | Little Rock, AR | 26% |
| Babson College | Babson Park, MA | 26% |
| Inter American University of Puerto Rico–Arecibo | Arecibo, PR | 26% |
| Inter American University of Puerto Rico–Metropolitan Campus | San Juan, PR | 26% |
| Rhode Island School of Design | Providence, RI | 26% |
| Art Academy of Cincinnati | Cincinnati, OH | 25% |
| University of Virginia | Charlottesville, VA | 24% |
| Vassar College | Poughkeepsie, NY | 24% |
| Webb Institute | Glen Cove, NY | 24% |
| California Institute of the Arts | Valencia, CA | 23% |
| Colgate University | Hamilton, NY | 23% |
| Grinnell College | Grinnell, IA | 23% |
| University of Michigan–Ann Arbor | Ann Arbor, MI | 23% |
| University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill | Chapel Hill, NC | 23% |
| New York School of Interior Design | New York, NY | 22% |
| Wellesley College | Wellesley, MA | 22% |
| Georgia Institute of Technology | Atlanta, GA | 21% |
| Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science | Los Angeles, CA | 20% |
| United States Coast Guard Academy | New London, CT | 20% |
| Boston University | Boston, MA | 19% |
| Carleton College | Northfield, MN | 19% |
| Texas Wesleyan University | Fort Worth, TX | 19% |
| Washington and Lee University | Lexington, VA | 19% |
| Davidson College | Davidson, NC | 18% |
| Laboure College | Milton, MA | 18% |
| Northeastern University | Boston, MA | 18% |
| University of California–Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | 17% |
| Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art | New York, NY | 16% |
| Emory University | Atlanta, GA | 16% |
| Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering | Needham, MA | 16% |
| Hamilton College | Clinton, NY | 16% |
| Haverford College | Haverford, PA | 16% |
| New York University | New York, NY | 16% |
| University of Notre Dame | Notre Dame, IN | 16% |
| Wesleyan University | Middletown, CT | 16% |
| Bacone College | Muskogee, OK | 15% |
| Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh, PA | 15% |
| Middlebury College | Middlebury, VT | 15% |
| Tufts University | Medford, MA | 15% |
| United States Merchant Marine Academy | Kings Point, NY | 15% |
| Colorado College | Colorado Springs, CO | 14% |
| Georgetown University | Washington, DC | 14% |
| Harvey Mudd College | Claremont, CA | 14% |
| Jarvis Christian College | Hawkins, TX | 14% |
| Limestone University | Gaffney, SC | 14% |
| Ottawa University | Ottawa, KS | 14% |
| Pitzer College | Claremont, CA | 14% |
| Washington University in St. Louis | St. Louis, MO | 14% |
| Tulane University | New Orleans, LA | 13% |
| Williams College | Williamstown, MA | 13% |
| Bates College | Lewiston, ME | 12% |
| University of California–Los Angeles | Los Angeles, CA | 12% |
| Amherst College | Amherst, MA | 11% |
| Barnard College | New York, NY | 11% |
| Cornell University | Ithaca, NY | 11% |
| United States Air Force Academy | USAF Academy, CO | 11% |
| University of Southern California | Los Angeles, CA | 11% |
| Claremont McKenna College | Claremont, CA | 10% |
| Colby College | Waterville, ME | 10% |
| Johns Hopkins University | Baltimore, MD | 10% |
| United States Military Academy | West Point, NY | 10% |
| Bowdoin College | Brunswick, ME | 9% |
| College of the Ozarks | Point Lookout, MO | 9% |
| Northwestern University | Evanston, IL | 9% |
| Rice University | Houston, TX | 9% |
| Swarthmore College | Swarthmore, PA | 9% |
| Vanderbilt University | Nashville, TN | 9% |
| Dartmouth College | Hanover, NH | 8% |
| Duke University | Durham, NC | 8% |
| Juilliard School | New York, NY | 8% |
| United States Naval Academy | Annapolis, MD | 8% |
| University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, PA | 8% |
| Alice Lloyd College | Pippa Passes, KY | 7% |
| Brown University | Providence, RI | 7% |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge, MA | 7% |
| Pomona College | Claremont, CA | 7% |
| Curtis Institute of Music | Philadelphia, PA | 6% |
| California Institute of Technology | Pasadena, CA | 6% |
| Princeton University | Princeton, NJ | 6% |
| University of Chicago | Chicago, IL | 6% |
| Yale University | New Haven, CT | 6% |
| Columbia University | New York, NY | 5% |
| Harvard University | Cambridge, MA | 4% |
| Stanford University | Stanford, CA | 3% |
Best universities in the U.S. – Graduation rates
Ok, acceptance rates at the top U.S. universities are pretty low. But how about the graduation rates? What percentage of students who get accepted and enrol actually finish their studies at the university?
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – 92,7%
- Stanford University – 94%
- Harvard University – 98%
- California Institute of Technology (Caltech) – 79%
- University of Chicago – 94.2%
- University of Pennsylvania – 95.2%
- Yale University – 97%
- Columbia University – 95%
- Princeton University – 97.6%
- Cornell University – 93%
- University of Michigan-Ann Arbor – 90%
- Johns Hopkins University – 94%
- Northwestern University – 93,5%
- The University of California, Berkeley (UCB) – 92%
- The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) – 91%
- New York University (NYU) – 84%
- The University of California, San Diego (UCSD) – 87,2%
- Duke University – 94.5%
- Carnegie Mellon University – 88%
- Brown University 95,5%
It makes sense that students who get accepted at top-tier universities are more motivated to finish their studies given the effort, time, and financial investment.