Some of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the US are also the country's most exclusive.
Using data from the Department of Education's College Scorecard database, we found the colleges and universities in the US with the lowest admissions rates for the 2017-2018 academic year, the most recently available data. We looked specifically at schools that were predominantly four-year bachelor's degree-granting institutions, as reported to the Department.
Several of the most selective colleges and universities also appear at the top of many college and university rankings, such as the list published annually by U.S. News and World Report. (Stanford University, the second most selective school on our list, ranked seventh in the most recent U.S. News and World Report on the best universities in the country, for example.)
Here are the 20 US colleges with the lowest admissions rates, along with their sticker-price tuition and undergraduate enrollment in the 2017-18 academic year:
20. Swarthmore College had a 10.7% admissions rate.
Swarthmore College students gather at the Phi Psi fraternity house during a sit-in, Monday, April 29, 2019, in Swarthmore, Pa. Students at the suburban Philadelphia college have occupied the on-campus fraternity house in an effort to get it shut down after documents allegedly belonging to Phi Psi surfaced this month containing derogatory comments about women and the LGBTQ community and jokes about sexual assault. (AP Photo)
Associated Press
Location: Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
Tuition: $50,822
Enrollment: 1,565
19. Dartmouth College had a 10.5% admissions rate.
Dan Lewis/Shutterstock
Location: Hanover, New Hampshire
Tuition: $53,368
Enrollment: 4,315
18. Claremont McKenna College had a 10.4% admissions rate.
Claremont McKenna College, part of the system of private liberal arts schools that make up the Claremont Colleges system, located east of Los Angeles, CA.
AP Photo/Reed Saxon
