Acceptance Rates for the Best Universities in the United States
In this article, I will be taking you through the acceptance rates of the best universities in the United States of America. So, stay with me while I explain everything you need to know for you.
First and foremost, what is the Acceptance Rate?
What is Acceptance Rate
Acceptance rates are important in your college search process, but what exactly are they?
Put simply, a school’s acceptance rate is the percentage of applicants who are admitted. College acceptance rates can vary considerably from school to school, as they are influenced by a number of unique factors. The first factor is the school’s own standards. All schools filter applicants based on several criteria, such as high school GPA, standardized test scores, essay strength, and more. The nation’s most prestigious schools tend to have loftier standards in all of these categories. They also tend to have more applicants, which leads us to our second factor: volume.
If a school has tens of thousands applicants each year, it’s going to have a lower acceptance rate than schools with only a few thousand applicants, assuming those schools are the same size. However, schools vary considerably in size, so that’s something to take into account, too. The lowest acceptance rate colleges are small, prestigious schools with a lot of applicants. Colleges with the highest acceptance rates are those with large student bodies, low or average admissions standards, and relatively low applicant numbers.
Acceptance Rate Explained Continuation
It’s pretty easy to find out the number of people getting into the school you’re interested – just check out their profile on Cappex. In each of our college profiles, we show you how many people are applying to a school in any given year, how many are getting admitted, and which demographics those admitted students fall into. Armed with this data, you can make a more educated decision about which colleges you want to put on your list. In the guide below, we answer some of your most-asked questions about college acceptance rates.
Who wouldn’t want to study at one of the best universities in the United States, if money wasn’t an object? But, even if you can afford it, this won’t be enough. Competition can be tough, so every extra piece of information is a plus.
That’s why we collected the acceptance rates for the top 20 universities in the U.S., as featured in the latest QS Rankings, from TopUniversities.com. The acceptance rates are the official numbers for the 2020 application intake.
What exactly are acceptance rates? Well, this is the percentage of the students who got accepted after going through the application process of the university. This should not be confused with enrolment rates, which is the percentage of students who got accepted and then chose to actually start studying at that university.
Now another question is are Admission rate and Acceptance rate the same thing?
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Are Admission Rate and Acceptance Rate the Same Thing?
Yes, admission rate and acceptance rate are the same thing. They both refer to the percentage of applicants accepted (or admitted) into a certain college or university in a given year.
Ok, now that you know the two mean the same thing. Let’s move on to the next sub-topic!
What Acceptance rate will you consider a good Acceptance rate?
What’s a “Good” Acceptance Rate?
While we introduced the idea of “prestige” in the opening section, the notion that a school with a low acceptance rate is prestigious is a myth. Here’s why:
There’s not really such a thing as a good or bad acceptance rate. In general, schools with low acceptance rates (lower than 10 percent) are more selective or have high standards or have tens of thousands of students applying for relatively few spots.
But that definitely doesn’t mean schools with higher acceptance rates are bad schools! They may just have less strict admission requirements or have larger campuses that can accommodate more students in the freshman class.
Best universities in the U.S. – Acceptance rates for 2022
As expected, the best University in the United States also has the lowest acceptance rates in the country. There are a lot of students applying and the universities have very strict admission standards. So, the competition is very tight.
Just keep in mind that universities with low acceptance rates aren’t necessarily the right ones for you. This is your education, not a popularity contest. It’s more important to find an academic programme that you’re interested in and speaks to your interests and future career.
The following are the best Universities in US and their Acceptance Rate;
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – 6.7%
- Stanford University – 4.34%
- Harvard University – 4.92%
- California Institute of Technology (Caltech) – 8%
- University of Chicago – 7.9%
- University of Pennsylvania – 10%
- Yale University – 7%
- Columbia University – 6.1%
- Princeton University – 6.5%
- Cornell University – 15%
- University of Michigan-Ann Arbor – 26%
- Johns Hopkins University – 14%
- Northwestern University – 28%
- University of California, Berkeley (UCB) – 17%
- University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) – 17%
- New York University (NYU) – 32%
- University of California, San Diego (UCSD) – 30.2%
- Duke University – 7.6%
- Carnegie Mellon University – 15.4%
- Brown University – 9.3%
Acceptance rates of other good universities in the U.S.
The following are the other good Universities in the United States of America and their Acceptance rate;
- University of Portland – 76,7%
- Boston University – 33%
- Florida Atlantic University – 63,3%
- American University Washington DC – 36,1%
- Drexel University – 74,7%
- University of San Francisco – 64,4%
- University of Texas at Austin – 31,8%
Which Colleges Should I Apply To?
That’s up to you! If you want to put some highly selective schools with low acceptance rates on your list, go for it!
However, to maximize your chances of getting into a school you love, it’s recommended students put safety, reach, and match schools on their college lists. By adding schools with all types of acceptance rates, you’re pretty much guaranteed to end up at a great college and have the best four years of your life!
It won’t be so good if I talk about Acceptance rate with even saying one word regarding the graduation rate! So, what is graduation rate?
Graduation Rate
A graduation rate is a measure of how many students who began in the same cohort will graduate in six years for four-year programs or three years for two-year programs. This rate indicates how many students finish their degrees in a timely manner upon enrolling. It can also help prospective students measure the quality of a school, since higher graduation rates may indicate that students’ resources, time and investment in a program at a particular school will likely be worth it.
A graduation rate refers to a student’s ability to complete their degree or diploma program within a certain time frame. A strong graduation rate typically highlights students’ hard work, teachers’ commitment to education and multiple support systems. Many schools with high graduation rates have selective, elite standards for prospective students because schools want to maintain a strong reputation in academia.
Best universities in the U.S. – Graduation rates for 2022
Ok, acceptance rates at the top U.S. universities are pretty low. But how about the graduation rates? What percentage of students who get accepted and enroll actually finish their studies at the university?
The following are the best Universities in the United States of America and their graduation rate;
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – 92,7%
- Stanford University – 94%
- Harvard University – 98%
- California Institute of Technology (Caltech) – 79%
- University of Chicago – 94.2%
- University of Pennsylvania – 95.2%
- Yale University – 97%
- Columbia University – 95%
- Princeton University – 97.6%
- Cornell University – 93%
- University of Michigan-Ann Arbor – 90%
- Johns Hopkins University – 94%
- Northwestern University – 93,5%
- University of California, Berkeley (UCB) – 92%
- University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) – 91%
- New York University (NYU) – 84%
- University of California, San Diego (UCSD) – 87,2%
- Duke University – 94.5%
- Carnegie Mellon University – 88%
- Brown University 95,5%
It makes sense that students who get accepted at top-tier universities are more motivated to finish their studies given the effort, time, and financial investment.
With this article “Acceptance Rates for the Best Universities in the United States“, I hope you gain one or two things from it. Thanks for reading!