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This San Francisco college is the hardest to get into in the U.S.

By Alexa Mae Asperin
Published  August 22, 2025 6:16am PDT
California
FOX 11
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The Brief

    • Minerva University, a small, independent college in San Francisco, is ranked the hardest U.S. school to get into for 2025.
    • The college has a 4% acceptance rate and a unique global learning model, which involves living and studying in different cities worldwide.
    • The rankings come from the education data site Niche, with California schools dominating the top 100 hardest schools to get into.

A new list just ranked the hardest colleges to get into in each state, with more than a dozen California schools topping the list.

Local perspective:

According to education data site Niche, the hardest California college to get into is Minerva University. Minerva also ranked as the hardest college to get into in the entire U.S. 

Located in San Francisco, the college has a 4% acceptance rate and features a unique living and learning model across the globe and has a small student-to-faculty ratio.

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According to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, Minerva University had nearly 10,000 first-time undergraduate students apply in fall 2023. Of those applicants, 350 were admitted. In fall 2023, 656 students were enrolled at the college.

Here are the top 10 hardest schools to get into in California and where they placed on the overall list:

  • #1: Minerva University, San Francisco (4% acceptance rate)
  • #2: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (3% acceptance rate)
  • #4: Stanford University, Stanford (4% acceptance rate)
  • #17: Pomona College, Claremont (7% acceptance rate)
  • #29: Claremont McKenna College, Claremont (11% acceptance rate)
  • #32: Stanbridge University, Orange County, Irvine (20% acceptance rate)
  • #34: University of California, Berkeley (12% acceptance rate)
  • #40: University of Southern California, Los Angeles (10% acceptance rate)
  • #45: Harvey Mudd College, Claremont (13% acceptance rate)
  • #62: Pitzer College, Claremont (16% acceptance rate)
  • #68: University of California, Irvine (26% acceptance rate)
  • #77: University of California, San Diego (25% acceptance rate)
  • #82: California Institute of the Arts, Valencia (26% acceptance rate)
  • #85: University of California, Santa Barbara (28% acceptance rate)
  • #91: Scripps College, Claremont (34% acceptance rate)

Big picture view:

Nationally, Minerva University in San Francisco was ranked the hardest to get into with a 4% acceptance rate.

These are the top 10 hardest colleges in America to get into and their acceptance rates, according to Niche:

  1. Minerva University (4%)
  2. California Institute of Technology (Caltech) (3%)
  3. Harvard University (3%)
  4. Stanford University (4%)
  5. Columbia University (4%)
  6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (5%)
  7. Yale University (5%)
  8. Brown University (5%)
  9. University of Chicago (5%)
  10. Princeton University (4%)

The backstory:

Niche’s rankings are based on data from the U.S. Department of Education, with statistics "represent[ing] the most recent data available, as self-reported by the colleges." 

Other schools on Niche's list include community colleges and technical schools.

The Source: This report is based on rankings and data from Niche, an education-focused website, which explicitly states its metrics are derived from acceptance rate data provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Additional enrollment and application statistics for Minerva University were sourced from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System.

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