A list detailing the hardest colleges for prospective students to be accepted into for 2023 has been released, and it shows two Chicago-area universities among the 25 hardest schools to get into in the U.S.
The list was compiled by Niche, a school district and college ranking and review website that evaluates the academics and overall culture of educational institutions in the U.S.
According to the 2023 list, the University of Chicago holds the country's seventh strictest acceptance rate, coming in at just 7%. The Hyde Park institution had a tighter acceptance rate than Brown University, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania.
Additionally, Evanston's Northwestern University ranked as the 12th-most selective college in the country for this year, with an acceptance rate of 9%.
Overall, Harvard University topped the list of the nation's most selective schools, with Stanford University and Princeton University rounding out the top three.
Below is a full list of the Top 25 most selective colleges in the U.S., according to Niche.
- 1. Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.)
- 2. Stanford University (Stanford, Calif.)
- 3. Princeton University (Princeton, N.J.)
- 4. California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, Calif.)
- 5. Yale University (New Haven, Conn.)
- 6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Mass.)
- 7. University of Chicago (Chicago, Ill.)
- 8. Columbia University (New York, N.Y.)
- 9. Duke University (Durham, N.C.)
- 10. Brown University (Providence, R.I.)
- 11. University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pa.)
- 12. Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.)
- 13. Dartmouth College (Hanover, N.H.)
- 14. Pomona College (Claremont, Calif.)
- 15. Rice University (Houston, Texas)
- 16. Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, Pa.)
- 17. Bowdoin College (Brunswick, Maine)
- 18. Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, Md.)
- 19. Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tenn.)
- 20. Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.)
- 21. Amherst College (Amherst, Mass.)
- 22. Colby College (Waterville, Maine)
- 23. United States Naval Academy (Annapolis, Md.)
- 24. United States Military Academy (West Point, N.Y.)
- 25. Tulane University (New Orleans, La.)
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