What official data on 59 selective colleges reveals about admissions
We pulled the official U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard figures behind every school in the AcceptanceAtlas dataset — 59 colleges — and analyzed what they actually say about selectivity, scores, and cost. Every number below is sourced; nothing here is modeled or estimated.
Key findings
- The median acceptance rate across these 59 colleges is 11.1% (mean 19.6%).
- 27 of the 59 admit under 10% of applicants. The most selective, California Institute of Technology, admits about 2.6%; the least selective in this set, Arizona State University, admits about 89.9%.
- The median SAT composite midpoint of admitted students is about 1508.
- The median published cost of attendance is $84,103/year, ranging from $22,523 to $91,250 — though the sticker price is rarely what families actually pay after aid.
- 37 of 59 require the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA for institutional aid.
How selective is this group?
Sorting the 59 colleges into selectivity bands shows how concentrated this set is at the top:
| Selectivity band | Colleges | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Extremely selective (under 10%) | 27 | 45.8% |
| Highly selective (10–25%) | 16 | 27.1% |
| Selective (25–50%) | 11 | 18.6% |
| Moderately selective (50–75%) | 3 | 5.1% |
| Broadly accessible (75% and up) | 2 | 3.4% |
The 10 most selective colleges in the dataset
| # | College | Acceptance rate | SAT midpoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California Institute of Technology | 2.6% | ~1545 |
| 2 | Stanford University | 3.6% | ~1545 |
| 3 | Harvard University | 3.7% | ~1545 |
| 4 | Yale University | 3.9% | ~1520 |
| 5 | Columbia University | 4% | ~1545 |
| 6 | University of Chicago | 4.5% | ~1545 |
| 7 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 4.6% | ~1550 |
| 8 | Princeton University | 4.6% | ~1545 |
| 9 | Northeastern University | 5.2% | ~1490 |
| 10 | Brown University | 5.4% | ~1545 |
We report the composite SAT midpoint, not a fabricated 25th–75th band. See each school's page for sourcing and the full picture.
What this means if you're applying
The single most important takeaway is the one families most often miss: a headline acceptance rate is an average across the whole applicant pool, not your personal probability. A 11.1% median tells you this group is competitive; it does not tell any individual student their odds. Those depend on where your GPA, scores, and rigor land relative to admitted students at each specific school.
That is why we report odds as ranges and bands, never false-precision percentages. If you're building a list, read how acceptance rates actually work, then how scores factor in, and how to balance your list across likely, target, and reach schools.
Methodology & sources
All figures are drawn from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, the federal dataset built from data colleges report through IPEDS. Acceptance rate is admitted ÷ applicants; the SAT figure is the composite midpoint of admitted students; cost of attendance is the published sticker price. Medians and means are computed across the 59 colleges in our verified dataset as of 2026-06-21. We publish only figures we can source, label estimates as estimates, and document the full method on our methodology page.
Estimate your own odds
See where your stats land against any of these schools — as an honest probability range, with the reasoning shown. Free to start.