2026 Tightest California Colleges To Admit Rankings
Among California colleges, California Institute of Technology has the tightest acceptance rate (2.57%) and Minerva University has the second lowest rate (3.04%) based on academic year 2023-2024 admission data.
Below table ranks and compares the Tightest California Colleges To Admit having lowest acceptance rate. For the acceptance rate rankings, we only include 4-year California colleges that have competitive admission.
Tightest California Colleges To Admit
| Rank | College Name | Applicants | Admitted | Enrolled | Acceptance Rate | Yield | Tuition & Fees | Student Population | SAT Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA | 13,856 | 356 | 218 | 2.6% | 61.2% | $65,898 | 2,430 | - |
| 2 | Minerva University San Francisco, CA | 10,864 | 330 | 144 | 3.0% | 43.6% | $23,630 | 669 | - |
| 3 | Stanford University Stanford, CA | 57,326 | 2,067 | 1,693 | 3.6% | 81.9% | $65,910 | 18,625 | 1,550 |
| 4 | Pomona College Claremont, CA | 12,249 | 868 | 436 | 7.1% | 50.2% | $65,420 | 1,700 | 1,540 |
| 5 | University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA | 146,272 | 13,114 | 6,610 | 9.0% | 50.4% | $46,121 | 47,335 | - |
| 6 | Claremont McKenna College Claremont, CA | 6,529 | 626 | 337 | 9.6% | 53.8% | $67,980 | 1,393 | 1,530 |
| 7 | University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA | 82,027 | 8,050 | 3,489 | 9.8% | 43.3% | $71,647 | 46,566 | 1,500 |
| 8 | University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA | 124,242 | 13,639 | 6,272 | 11.0% | 46.0% | $47,265 | 45,882 | - |
| 9 | Harvey Mudd College Claremont, CA | 5,094 | 645 | 231 | 12.7% | 35.8% | $68,613 | 951 | 1,540 |
| 10 | Northeastern University Oakland Oakland, CA | 18,030 | 3,002 | 446 | 16.7% | 14.9% | $67,778 | 640 | 1,480 |
Qualified California Colleges in Core Admission Stats
