Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA ‧ Private, non-profit ‧ 4-year
Currently, MIT's acceptance rate is 4.1%, which means it only accepts around 4 applicants for every 100 people that apply. A 4.1% acceptance rate means that MIT is extremely competitive to get into. You'll need excellent grades, test scores, essays, and letters of recommendation to even be considered.
https://blog.prepscholar.com/how-to-get-into-mit
Stanford University
Stanford, CA ‧ Private, non-profit ‧ 4-year
You should also have a 3.96 GPA or higher. If your GPA is lower than this, you need to compensate with a higher SAT/ACT score. For a school as selective as Stanford, you'll also need to impress them with the rest of your application.
https://www.prepscholar.com/sat/s/colleges/Stanford-admission-requirements
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA ‧ Private, non-profit ‧ 4-year
To be considered for admission to Harvard, you must earn top grades in high school. The Harvard Crimson reports that the average reported GPA of entering freshmen in the class of 2022 was 3.90 on a 4.0 unweighted scale. According to College Data, the average weighted GPA of freshmen matriculates is 4.18.
https://goingivy.com/colleges/how-to-get-into-harvard/
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA ‧ Private, non-profit ‧ 4-year
Caltech's low acceptance rate is intensified by the fact that it has a total undergraduate population of only 938 students. Unlike the other most prestigious STEM-centered, MIT, which has over 4,000 undergraduates, Caltech is far smaller. The class of 2024 only has 244 students!
https://ingeniusprep.com/blog/how-to-get-into-caltech/
The University of Chicago
Chicago, IL ‧ Private, non-profit ‧ 4-year
You should also have a 4.48 GPA or higher. If your GPA is lower than this, you need to compensate with a higher SAT/ACT score. For a school as selective as University of Chicago, you'll also need to impress them with the rest of your application.
https://www.prepscholar.com/sat/s/colleges/University-of-Chicago-admission-requirements
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA ‧ Private, non-profit ‧ 4-year
You should also have a 3.9 GPA or higher. If your GPA is lower than this, you need to compensate with a higher SAT/ACT score. For a school as selective as University of Pennsylvania, you'll also need to impress them with the rest of your application.
https://www.prepscholar.com/sat/s/colleges/University-of-Pennsylvania-admission-requirements
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ ‧ Private, non-profit ‧ 4-year
We look for students with intellectual curiosity, who have pursued and achieved academic excellence. We also look for students with strong personal and extracurricular accomplishments.
https://admission.princeton.edu/how-apply/helpful-tips
Yale University
New Haven, CT ‧ Private, non-profit ‧ 4-year
As one of the most selective colleges in the world, it is tough to get into Yale. Yale's acceptance rate in 2018 was 5.9%, and it plummeted to 4.62 in 2021, likely due to making the SAT and ACT test-optional. This decision may have contributed to record-high application numbers and record-low acceptance rates.
https://www.crimsoneducation.org/us/blog/campus-life-more/how-to-get-into-yale/
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY ‧ Private, non-profit ‧ 4-year
Most students admitted to Cornell have an unweighted GPA of 4.07 or above. You might think to yourself, “How can students have a GPA greater than 4.0?” Certain high schools score advanced courses like APs differently, using a 5.0 scale instead of a 4.0 scale.
https://www.turito.com/blog/college-guide/cornell-university-admissions-acceptance-rate
Columbia University
New York, NY ‧ Private, non-profit ‧ 4-year
The acceptance rate at Columbia International University is 33.4%. For every 100 applicants, 33 are admitted. This means the school is very selective. If you meet Columbia International University's requirements for GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and other components of the application, you have a great shot at getting in.
https://www.prepscholar.com/sat/s/colleges/Columbia-International-University-admission-requirements