Best Colleges - 2025 Ranking by Selectivity Index (top 50)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chicago (ranked #3) is uber selective due to its high yield rate (86%). Also its retention rate is high and graduation rate is high. Overall a top-notch school.

No. Chicago has a high yield rate because of ED0 (summer ED), ED1,ED2. 80% of the incoming class is through ED. That is not comparable to other tip top privates with one ED round that accounts for half or just less than half the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chicago ahead of MIT, Princeton, Yale…

Northeastern ahead of Duke, Northwestern, Williams, Amherst, Hopkins…

Please be serious.

Northeastern ahead of Williams or Amherst is not a big surprise.
Majority of students don't even consider small liberal arts schools in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Should calculate (non-ED Yield / non-ED Acceptance Rate) instead of (Yield / Acceptance Rate).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:meaningless

+1

+2 assessing based on selectivity is deeply ignorant and a poor substitute for assessing the actual quality of institutions, programs, majors, student life, etc.

[Anonymous]

Ah yes, because it is definitely harder to get into the Good Samaritan College of Nursing and Health Science than Georgetown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.collegeraptor.com/college-rankings/details/Selectivity/

Rank / School Name / Selectivity Index

1 Harvard University 24.3
2 Stanford University 20.7
3 California Institute of Technology 20.6
4 University of Chicago 18.4
5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 18.1
6 Princeton University 17.0
7 Minerva University 15.9
8 Yale University 15.6
9 Columbia University 14.9
10 Brown University 12.1
11 University of Pennsylvania 11.8
12 Curtis Institute of Music 11.6
13 Dartmouth College 10.8
14 Barnard College 9.5
15 United States Naval Academy 9.1
16 Vanderbilt University 9.1
17 Northeastern University 8.9
18 Washington University of Science and Technology 8.7
19 Stanbridge University 8.4
20 Duke University 8.2
21 Cornell University 8.1
22 Northwestern University 8.0
23 Pomona College 7.4
24 Colby College 7.3
25 Bowdoin College 7.1
26 Johns Hopkins University 6.4
27 Swarthmore College 6.0
28 University of California-Los Angeles 5.9
29 Good Samaritan College of Nursing and Health Science 5.9
30 The Juilliard School 5.9
31 Rice University 5.8
32 New York University 5.8
33 United States Air Force Academy 5.7
34 United States Military Academy 5.4
35 Tufts University 5.0
36 University of Notre Dame 4.8
37 Williams College 4.7
38 College of the Ozarks 4.6
39 University of Southern California 4.5
40 Claremont McKenna College 4.5
41 Middlebury College 4.3
42 Amherst College 4.0
43 Washington University in St Louis 4.0
44 Carnegie Mellon University 3.9
45 University of California-Berkeley 3.9
46 Rhode Island School of Design 3.7
47 Georgetown University 3.7
48 Webb Institute 3.6
49 Emory University 3.6
50 Wellesley College 3.6

Only an idiot would send their kid to Minerva University over many of the 'lower ranked' schools on this list, even Emory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:meaningless

+1

+2 assessing based on selectivity is deeply ignorant and a poor substitute for assessing the actual quality of institutions, programs, majors, student life, etc.

Selectivity is the result of all applicants' collective assessment of quality of institutions, programs, majors, student life, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.collegeraptor.com/college-rankings/details/Selectivity/

Rank / School Name / Selectivity Index

1 Harvard University 24.3
2 Stanford University 20.7
3 California Institute of Technology 20.6
4 University of Chicago 18.4
5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 18.1
6 Princeton University 17.0
7 Minerva University 15.9
8 Yale University 15.6
9 Columbia University 14.9
10 Brown University 12.1
11 University of Pennsylvania 11.8
12 Curtis Institute of Music 11.6
13 Dartmouth College 10.8
14 Barnard College 9.5
15 United States Naval Academy 9.1
16 Vanderbilt University 9.1
17 Northeastern University 8.9
18 Washington University of Science and Technology 8.7
19 Stanbridge University 8.4
20 Duke University 8.2
21 Cornell University 8.1
22 Northwestern University 8.0
23 Pomona College 7.4
24 Colby College 7.3
25 Bowdoin College 7.1
26 Johns Hopkins University 6.4
27 Swarthmore College 6.0
28 University of California-Los Angeles 5.9
29 Good Samaritan College of Nursing and Health Science 5.9
30 The Juilliard School 5.9
31 Rice University 5.8
32 New York University 5.8
33 United States Air Force Academy 5.7
34 United States Military Academy 5.4
35 Tufts University 5.0
36 University of Notre Dame 4.8
37 Williams College 4.7
38 College of the Ozarks 4.6
39 University of Southern California 4.5
40 Claremont McKenna College 4.5
41 Middlebury College 4.3
42 Amherst College 4.0
43 Washington University in St Louis 4.0
44 Carnegie Mellon University 3.9
45 University of California-Berkeley 3.9
46 Rhode Island School of Design 3.7
47 Georgetown University 3.7
48 Webb Institute 3.6
49 Emory University 3.6
50 Wellesley College 3.6

Only an idiot would send their kid to Minerva University over many of the 'lower ranked' schools on this list, even Emory.

Even? Emory? You don't get tired of being a troll.

[Anonymous]

Northeastern? Barnard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:meaningless

This is very important information for applicants.

No it’s not. Many universities game selectivity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Northeastern? Barnard?

Barnard is an ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anything not having UGA in the Top 5 seems ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago (ranked #3) is uber selective due to its high yield rate (86%). Also its retention rate is high and graduation rate is high. Overall a top-notch school.

No. Chicago has a high yield rate because of ED0 (summer ED), ED1,ED2. 80% of the incoming class is through ED. That is not comparable to other tip top privates with one ED round that accounts for half or just less than half the class.

That says Chicago is so popular that so many high caliber kids love to go there and are 100% sure Chicago is the best place. And Chicago has to open up 80% of the class to ED applicants, or they risk losing the best intellectuals to peer schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chicago (ranked #3) is uber selective due to its high yield rate (86%). Also its retention rate is high and graduation rate is high. Overall a top-notch school.

No. Chicago has a high yield rate because of ED0 (summer ED), ED1,ED2. 80% of the incoming class is through ED. That is not comparable to other tip top privates with one ED round that accounts for half or just less than half the class.

That says Chicago is so popular that so many high caliber kids love to go there and are 100% sure Chicago is the best place. And Chicago has to open up 80% of the class to ED applicants, or they risk losing the best intellectuals to peer schools.

Yes, this is one way to interpretat the result.
High caliber students may still think Harvard is better but not significantly so that it's not worth giving it a small chance, and it's better to increase chance at UChicago.

[Anonymous]

BTW UPenn and Ivies invented ED.