For the Class of 2023, 7 of the 8 Ivy League colleges had overall acceptance rates of less than 8%. Ten other top schools had overall acceptance rates of less than 10%. Remember, there are over 2,500 accredited colleges and universities in the United States.
If you apply to top schools ED/EA, the percentage of applicants admitted appears higher. However, this is due to the recruited athletes, legacies, special cases, and truly world-class applicants who typically apply ED/EA.
Stanford: 4.3% for Class of 2022; no longer reporting admission statistics
Harvard: 4.5%; SCEA 13.44%
Columbia: 5.1%; ED 14.57%
Yale: 5.9%; SCEA 13.19%
Princeton: 5.8%; SCEA 13.93%
University of Chicago: 5.9%; EA 12.12% for Class of 2022
MIT: 6.6%; EA 7.36%
Brown: 6.6%; ED 18.18%
CalTech: 6.6% for Class of 2022
Duke: 7.4%; ED 18.18%
U Penn: 7.4%; ED 17.99%
Dartmouth: 7.9%; ED 23.2%
Northwestern: 8.4% for Class of 2022; ED 25% for Class of 2022
Rice: 8.7%; ED 19%
Swarthmore: 8.7%; ED 28%
Bowdoin: 8.9%; ED 23%
Johns Hopkins: 9.2%; ED 31%
Cornell: 10.6%; ED 22.65%
These numbers reveal the importance of applying to schools where your chance of acceptance is greater than 10-25%. We strongly recommend everyone apply to at least one school with an 80% or better chance of acceptance.