<p>I am aware that acceptance rates are not nearly the most important factor when deciding on colleges. However, I was just looking to compose a list of schools with these kind of acceptance rates, in order to formulate ideas about which ones to research more extensively and apply to next year.
Thank you!</p>
<p>You can try College Board’s College Search feature. On the left-hand side you can select filters, including “Test Scores & Selectivity”. There is an option for “Very selective (25–50% admitted)” which is close to the range you are looking for.</p>
<p><a href=“https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search[/url]”>https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search</a></p>
<p>Our library was tossing out 2013 editions of Insider’s Guide to the Colleges and I went through and identified schools in that acceptance range a few weeks ago. Here is at least a partial list from that book from CA-MA</p>
<p>Claremont McKenna 22%
Harvey Mudd 21%
Pitzer 26%
Scripps 39%
UC schools from 20-50%
USC 24%
Colorado College 34%
Trinity 43%
Univ of Connecticut 47%
Wesleyan Univ 21%
George Washington U 37%
Georgetown 21%
University of FL 43%
University of Miami 39%
Univ S. FL 38%
Agnes Scott 48%
Emory 26%
Northwestern 26%
Univ of Notre Dame 29%
Cornell College (Iowa) 39%
Grinnell 43%
Tulane 26%
Bates College 30%
Colby 31%
Johns Hopkins 24%
Univ Maryland College Park 44%
Babson 35%
Boston College 26%
Brandeis 33%
Emerson 37%
College of the Holy Cross 33%
Northeastern 38%
Smith 47%
Tufts 24%
Wellesley College 31%</p>
<p>@Trilliums-- not sure when that data was updated, but at least some of it is outdated. Just glancing through, I know that Claremont McKenna’s is actually 12% and Colorado College is 26%. OP, double check all numbers against the most recent data.</p>
<p>Acceptance rate is not a reliable indicator of selectivity, since the strength of applicant pools at different colleges differs.</p>
<p>Northwestern is also incorrect - it’s closer to 10%</p>
<p>You’d be better off just looking at rankings for your major; even US News gives a better idea of what kind of universities you should be applying to than does acceptance rates. The way you’re going at the process, you’re going to neglect a lot of good schools. </p>
<p>For example shrugging off UIUC for Computer Science just because their overall acceptance rate is ~60% or IU Bloomington for Business because its acceptance rate is ~70% isn’t a good decision. They’re both still better than 95% of all other colleges for those respective fields, regardless of how many students they accept.</p>
<p>On the other hand applying to Amherst or Williams, or even Yale for an engineering field because they accept less than 20% isn’t a smart decision either. You’d probably get a 10x better education at the nearby state school that accepts 50%+.</p>
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<p>So not only is it not “nearly the most important factor”… it shouldn’t be a factor at all.</p>
<p>There are just a ton of schools that fit your criteria. I’d suggest you get a couple of college guide books and/or do some research online. You can start with the USNWR list of universities and or LACs and see which have acceptance rates in the range you want and have other attributes you like as well. Remember to factor in finances into your equation as well.
[Best</a> College Rankings, Best Graduate School Rankings, Best Hospitals, and Best Health Insurance Companies - US News Rankings](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/rankings]Best”>http://www.usnews.com/rankings)</p>
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<p>College Navigator is a great tool for these type of searches:</p>
<p>[College</a> Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics](<a href=“http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/]College”>College Navigator - National Center for Education Statistics)</p>
<p>Click on the + MORE SEARCH OPTIONS</p>
<p>OP might need to go to colleges’ individual websites for most up-to-date admissions figures.</p>
<p>For instance, I know Tufts admission rate was 18 percent for Class of 2017, not 24 percent as listed by Trilliums. Insider’s Guide is not published yearly, so might not be reflective of current numbers.</p>
<p>Acceptance rates are totally without meaning. And I do mean <em>totally</em>.
Harvard has a 5% acceptance rate. Does that mean that anybody has a 5% chance of gettign into Harvard?
No.
Why?
Because at least 90% of the applicant pool are kids who think they have a reasonable chance of getting in.</p>
<p>Want to access your chances? Look at Naviance.</p>
<p>Just look at this as an example:</p>
<p>Tulane 26%
Univ of Notre Dame 29%</p>
<p>Anybody <em>really</em> think Tulane is harder to get into than Notre Dame?</p>
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<p>They shouldn’t be factored in at all.</p>
<p>Supply and demand, as well as demographics play a key role in acceptance rates. For example, Cal State Long Beach has an acceptance rate of 30% (very selective), yet their admitted math SAT scores are 460/590 (25th/75th)… </p>
<p>On the other hand, Missouri S&T has an acceptance rate of 89% with admitted math SAT scores of 610/700.</p>
<p>In other words, less demand = higher acceptance rates, but higher acceptance rates do not mean that the school is of lower quality. Furthermore, there are high quality schools with lower SAT scores AND higher acceptance rates that are worth considering (think Purdue). So as you can see, you can’t just simplify your entire college search process by looking at acceptance rates… you really have to do your research on each college you’re interested in to find out which ones fit.</p>
<p>Yep, the book was published in 2012 and says it used data from 2011 <em>in most cases</em> which is why I included the source.</p>
<p>My kids and I did find it useful though. Yes we recognize multiple factors come into play but at the very least, a list such as this has increased our basic knowledge of a variety of different schools. Reading through CC, most of the school abbreviations are unknown to us.</p>
<p>After eliminating obvious poor fits, we listed next to the admittance rate the middle 50% SAT ranges along with state and size. Then we started looking up majors offered, financial aid etc.</p>
<p>The purpose wasn’t to compare two schools with very close acceptance rates or even to generate a list of the only schools to consider. The purpose was to begin to identify schools to consider. And no, admittance rates shouldn’t be the only factor, but yes, it surely should be considered! For example, I would not advise my children to only apply to schools with very low acceptance rates.</p>
<p>Those acceptance rates are mixing early (ED and/or EA) and RD admissions rates, which can be radically different. </p>
<p>Acceptance rates are useful to see if a list is balanced, with safeties in place and not just reaches.</p>
<p>Acceptance rates are especially **not **useful when looking at schools with “self-selecting” applicant pools such as women’s colleges and some STEM schools. You really have to look at the SAT/ACT ranges and average GPA numbers as well. That is where a good college search tool is handy…</p>
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<p>Again, in the Navigator.</p>
<p>Try using collegedata.com that is a wealth of data and information, everything fro acceptance rates of males, females. and average debt per student. extremely handy.</p>