Which colleges are the hardest for your students to get into in 2023?

Whether your students are simply winging it and trying their luck at getting into some prestigious college, or they’ve been hitting the books with dreams and aspirations of being the first in their family to attend an Ivy League school, perhaps we can offer some guidance on which ones they ought to look into.

Niche, a ranking and review site, recently published its list of the “2023 Hardest Colleges to Get Into.” Using data from the U.S. Department of Education on various colleges’ acceptance rates and SAT/ACT scores, they found, unsurprisingly, Harvard University to be the most difficult college to get into. With a 5% acceptance rate and SAT scores ranging between 1460 and 1580, it’s no wonder why it tops the list.

Now let’s take a look at the top 25 most difficult colleges to get into in 2023:

1. Harvard University: Acceptance rate (5%), SAT range (1460-1580)
2. Stanford University: Acceptance rate (6%), SAT range (1420-1570)
3. Princeton University: Acceptance rate (6%), SAT range (1450-1570)
4. California Institute of Technology: Acceptance rate (7%), SAT range (1530-1580)
5. Yale University: Acceptance rate (7%), SAT range (1460-1580)
6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Acceptance rate (7%), SAT range (1510-1580)
7. University of Chicago: Acceptance rate (7%), SAT range (1500-1570)
8. Columbia University: Acceptance rate (7%), SAT range (1460-1570)
9. Duke University: Acceptance rate (8%) SAT range (1470-1570)
10. Brown University: Acceptance rate (8%), SAT range (1440-1560)
11. University of Pennsylvania: Acceptance rate (9%), SAT range (1460-1570)
12. Northwestern University: Acceptance rate (9%), SAT range (1430-1550)
13. Dartmouth College: Acceptance rate (9%), SAT range (1440-1560)
14. Pomona College: Acceptance rate (9%), SAT range (1390-1540)
15. Rice University: Acceptance rate (11%), SAT range (1460-1570)
16. Swarthmore College: Acceptance rate (9%), SAT range (1390-1540)
17. Bowdoin College: Acceptance rate (9%), SAT range (1360-1510)
18. Johns Hopkins University: Acceptance rate (11%), SAT range (1470-1560)
19. Vanderbilt University: Acceptance rate: 12%), SAT range (1470-1570)
20. Cornell University: Acceptance rate (11%), SAT range (1400-1540)
21. Amherst College: Acceptance rate (12%), SAT range (1430-1560)
22. Colby College: Acceptance rate (10%), SAT range (1380-1520)
23. United States Naval Academy: Acceptance rate (9%), SAT range (1230-1450)
24. United States Military Academy at West Point: Acceptance rate (9%), SAT range (1210-1440)
25. Tulane University: Acceptance rate (11%), SAT range (1340-1500)

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