2026 Tightest Pennsylvania Colleges To Admit Rankings
Among Pennsylvania colleges, University of Pennsylvania has the tightest acceptance rate (5.40%) and Swarthmore College has the second lowest rate (7.46%) based on academic year 2023-2024 admission data.
Below table ranks and compares the Tightest Pennsylvania Colleges To Admit having lowest acceptance rate. For the acceptance rate rankings, we only include 4-year Pennsylvania colleges that have competitive admission.
Tightest Pennsylvania Colleges To Admit
| Rank | College Name | Applicants | Admitted | Enrolled | Acceptance Rate | Yield | Tuition & Fees | Student Population | SAT Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA | 65,226 | 3,523 | 2,395 | 5.4% | 68.0% | $68,686 | 29,109 | 1,550 |
| 2 | Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA | 13,065 | 975 | 427 | 7.5% | 43.8% | $65,494 | 1,623 | 1,540 |
| 3 | Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA | 33,941 | 3,959 | 1,808 | 11.7% | 45.7% | $65,636 | 15,888 | 1,540 |
| 4 | Haverford College Haverford, PA | 7,341 | 908 | 387 | 12.4% | 42.6% | $70,398 | 1,431 | 1,510 |
| 5 | Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA | 20,396 | 5,289 | 1,501 | 25.9% | 28.4% | $64,980 | 7,692 | 1,440 |
| 6 | Villanova University Villanova, PA | 23,256 | 6,274 | 1,740 | 27.0% | 27.7% | $67,776 | 10,041 | 1,450 |
| 7 | Franklin and Marshall College Lancaster, PA | 9,881 | 2,785 | 477 | 28.2% | 17.1% | $70,794 | 1,808 | 1,375 |
| 8 | Bucknell University Lewisburg, PA | 11,377 | 3,291 | 991 | 28.9% | 30.1% | $67,812 | 3,969 | 1,400 |
| 9 | Lafayette College Easton, PA | 10,195 | 3,206 | 698 | 31.4% | 21.8% | $64,648 | 2,775 | 1,430 |
| 10 | Gettysburg College Gettysburg, PA | 8,366 | 3,254 | 508 | 38.9% | 15.6% | $66,640 | 2,812 | 1,370 |
Qualified Pennsylvania Colleges in Core Admission Stats
