MOST SELECTIVE colleges accept fewer than 15% of all applicants AND possess an average composite ACT (25%tile) score of at least 30 or an average combined SAT (25%tile) score of at least 1370. They include:
- Amherst College
- Barnard College
- Bowdoin College
- Brown University
- California Institute of Technology
- Carleton College
- Claremont McKenna College
- Colby College
- Columbia University
- Cornell University
- Dartmouth University
- Duke University
- Georgetown University
- Harvard University
- Harvey Mudd College
- Johns Hopkins University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Northwestern University
- Pomona College
- Princeton University
- Rice University
- Stanford University
- Swarthmore College
- Tufts University
- University of Chicago
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Southern California
- Vanderbilt University
- Washington University
- Williams College
- Yale University
EXTREMELY SELECTIVE colleges accept fewer than 35% of all applicants AND possess an average composite ACT (25%tile) score of at least 29 OR an average combined SAT (25%tile) score of at least 1340. They include:
- Bates College
- Boston College
- Boston University
- Brandeis University
- Bucknell University
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Case Western Reserve University
- Colgate University
- Colorado College
- Cooper Union
- Davidson College
- Emory University
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- Grinnell College
- Hamilton College
- Haverford College
- Lehigh University
- Middlebury College
- New York University
- Northeastern University
- Reed College
- Scripps College
- Smith College
- Trinity College
- Trinity University
- Tulane University
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of California, Los Angeles
- University of Miami
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
- University of Notre Dame
- University of Richmond
- University of Rochester
- University of Virginia
- Vassar College
- Villanova University
- Wake Forest University
- Washington and Lee University
- Wellesley College
- Wesleyan University
VERY SELECTIVE colleges accept fewer than 50% of all applicants AND possess an average composite ACT (25%tile) score of at least 27 or an average combined SAT (25%tile) score of at least 1280. They include:
- American University
- Babson College
- Bard College
- Bentley University
- Bryn Mawr College
- Clemson University
- College of the Holy Cross
- College of William and Mary
- Colorado School of Mines
- Connecticut College
- Denison University
- Dickinson College
- Emerson College
- Fordham University
- Franklin and Marshall College
- George Washington University
- Kenyon College
- Lafayette College
- Loyola Marymount University
- Macalester College
- Mount Holyoke College
- North Carolina State University
- Oberlin College
- Occidental College
- Pitzer College
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
- Rhodes College
- SUNY at Binghamton
- Santa Clara University
- Skidmore College
- Stevens Institute of Technology
- Syracuse University
- Union College
- United States Air Force Academy
- United States Military Academy
- United States Naval Academy
- University of Florida
- University of Georgia
- University of Maryland, College Park
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- University of Texas at Austin
- University of Washington
- Whitman College
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute
MODERATELY SELECTIVE colleges accept fewer than 60% of all applicants AND possess an average composite ACT (25%tile) score of at least 25 or an average combined SAT (25%tile) score of at least 1210. They include:
- Baylor University
- Bennington College
- California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo
- CUNY Baruch
- Chapman University
- Clark University
- Clarkson University
- Earlham College
- Fairfield University
- Florida State University
- Gettysburg College
- Hobart and William Smith Colleges
- Illinois Institute of Technology
- Illinois Wesleyan University
- Ohio State University
- Penn State University
- Pepperdine University
- Providence College
- Purdue University
- Rutgers University
- Saint Louis University
- Sarah Lawrence College
- Southern Methodist University
- St. Lawrence University
- St. Olaf College
- Stony Brook University
- Texas Christian University
- The College of New Jersey
- The College of Wooster
- United States Coast Guard Academy
- University of California, Davis
- University of California, San Diego
- University of California, Santa Barbara
- University of Connecticut
- University of Denver
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- University of Massachusetts-Amherst
- University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
- University of Pittsburgh
- University of San Diego
- University of Tulsa
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
