If you have your mind set on a top-ranked school, the college application process can be daunting and stressful. As anyone who’s followed the news in recent years is aware, acceptance rates at elite colleges and universities have plummeted to record-low levels and continue to fall. As a result, many students assume that prestigious schools are out of reach, especially if they don’t have near-perfect grades, test scores, and other “hooks.”
Fortunately, not every highly ranked college is impossible to get accepted to. This article profiles several national universities and liberal arts colleges with high rankings but also attainable admissions stats. These aren’t places where hordes of valedictorians with 36 ACTs get rejected or waitlisted every year because there simply aren’t enough spots. High-achieving students can feel confident about their chances of getting into these schools, and even solidly above-average students have a shot.
Read on to learn about the easiest highly ranked colleges to get into.
Easiest Highly Ranked National Universities to Get Into
If you’re looking for highly ranked national universities that won’t require a perfect resume and some serious prayers on top of that to get into, then the following three schools should be on your list.
University of Rochester
- Location: Rochester, NY
- U.S. News ranking: #47 in National Universities
- Acceptance rate: 39%
- Graduation rate: 87%
- Middle 50% ACT range: 31-34 (7% submitting scores)
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,390-1,540 (22% submitting scores)
The University of Rochester is a private research university located in upstate New York. With an acceptance rate of around 40%, it’s considered a selective school. However, it’s not as difficult to get into as most of the universities ranked near it (and even below it) in U.S. News. The university’s six-year graduation rate of 87 percent is particularly impressive given the school’s focus on engineering and STEM programs.
For test scores, the middle 50% range for SAT scores is 1390-1540, and the middle 50% range for ACT scores is 31-34. However, only 7 percent of accepted students chose to submit ACT scores for their application, with 22 percent submitting SAT scores. That means the majority of URochester students in the most recent admissions cycle were accepted test optionally, meaning they didn’t submit ACT or SAT scores at all.
If you have a strong high school academic record but lackluster test scores, you still have a strong chance of getting accepted to URochester based on the school’s incoming class profiles from the last few years.
The school is well-known for its STEM programs, particularly in the fields of optics, engineering, and computer science. The university’s music program is also renowned, and the Eastman School of Music is one of the most prestigious music conservatories in the country. Additionally, the university has a strong business program, with its Simon Business School consistently ranking among the top business schools in the country.
University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Location: Madison, WI
- U.S. News ranking: #35 in National Universities
- Acceptance rate: 49%
- Graduation rate: 89%
- Middle 50% ACT range: 28-33 (38% submitting scores)
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,350-1,510 (18% submitting scores)
The University of Wisconsin–Madison offers the quintessential college experience — Big Ten sports, Greek life, a robust social scene — and a degree that is prestigious not just nationally but internationally. And the admissions standards, while plenty selective, are not so brutal that getting in is a crapshoot even for top students. In the most recent admissions cycle, about half of all applicants got accepted.
The test score midranges at UW-Madison are fairly strong, but keep in mind that more than half of the students who get in for fall 2022 went test-optional. It’s also worth noting that among the accepted students whose high schools reported class rank, barely half were in the top 10% of their class. So, while it helps to be a strong student to get into UW-Madison, you don’t have to be perfect.
Wisconsin is a strong university that excels in many fields, but its engineering, computer science, and business programs are particularly highly ranked. The alumni network is huge and loyal — you’ll find Badgers all over the country and abroad. And the graduation rate of nearly 90% shows that nearly everyone who matriculates at UW-Madison eventually finds their way across the stage.
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
- Location: Urbana, IL
- U.S. News ranking: #35 in National Universities
- Acceptance rate: 45%
- Graduation rate: 85%
- Middle 50% ACT range: 29-34 (43% submitting scores)
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,340-1,530 (24% submitting scores)
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is tied with UW-Madison in U.S. News and has a slightly lower acceptance rate. Last admissions cycle, slightly under half of all applicants were accepted.
That said, it’s worth pointing out a couple of things so that prospective students don’t get too excited and think it’s only moderately difficult to get into UIUC.
One, the test score midranges are impressively high for a school with a 45% acceptance rate, and about half of all admitted students submitted scores. That suggests at least some level of self-selection — students who don’t think they have a good shot of getting in, don’t apply.
Two, admission rates at UIUC vary wildly from program to program. Computer science at UIUC, for instance, is one of the most difficult admits in the country, on par with schools like MIT, Cal-Berkeley, and Cal-Tech. Engineering is nearly as difficult. The liberal arts programs at UIUC, however, have much less stringent admissions standards. Unfortunately, the school doesn’t make it easy to get in under a major with a high acceptance rate and then transfer into computer science or engineering.
Easiest Highly Ranked Liberal Arts Colleges to Get Into
Most highly ranked liberal arts colleges have the same problem as big schools: too many applicants, too few spots. This can make it difficult to get accepted even if you’re a top student with a long list of accomplishments.
We found three top-rated liberal arts colleges that aren’t brutally difficult to get into. Read on to learn more about these schools and what makes them unique. If you’re considering attending a liberal arts college, these three are worth a look.
Soka University of America
- Location: Aliso Viejo, CA
- U.S. News ranking: #56 in National Liberal Arts Colleges
- Acceptance rate: 57%
- Graduation rate: 89%
- Middle 50% ACT range: 26-27 (8% submitting scores)
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,240-1,440 (43% submitting scores)
Soka is one of the most unique schools in the United States. It’s owned by the Soka Gakkai branch of the Buddhist faith in Japan. In fact, all students are required to study at the school’s Japanese campus for at least one semester.
The school only has a few majors, typically in broad subjects such as liberal arts or social justice. Therefore, almost all students continue on to graduate school.
The campus is breathtakingly beautiful, located high atop a hill in a ritzy part of Orange County, CA. Because it is flush with Soka Gakkai money, the school has the second-highest per-student endowment in the country, trailing only Harvard. This helps explain its surprisingly high ranking in U.S. News — though the school has taken a tumble recently as a result of the publication’s new focus on social mobility and Pell Grant student performance.
As you can see from the test score midranges at Soka, they’re very attainable for an above-average student. The average student who submitted scores pulled roughly a 27 on the ACT and a 1,340 on the SAT. About half of all admitted students in 2023 applied test-optional.
College of the Holy Cross
- Location: Worcester, MA
- U.S. News ranking: #27 in National Liberal Arts Colleges
- Acceptance rate: 36%
- Graduation rate: 92%
- Middle 50% ACT range: 28-32 (19% submitting scores)
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,260-1,430 (35% submitting scores)
Holy Cross is a prestigious New England liberal arts college. It is often mentioned alongside NESCAC colleges like Amherst, Williams, and Bowdoin. But unlike those schools, Holy Cross doesn’t have an acceptance rate in the teens or single digits. Last admissions cycle (2023), more than one-third of those who applied got accepted — though it should be noted that the preliminary numbers that have come out for 2024 show that the acceptance rate plummeted.
The school has very manageable test-score midranges, with fewer than half of admitted students actually submitting scores. Among those whose high schools reported class rank, less than half ranked in the top 10% of their class, so you don’t have to be a perfect student or a perfect test-taker to get in.
As a Jesuit school, Holy Cross blends academic excellence with a strong commitment to serving the local community. Students are known to party it up on Friday and Saturday nights, then spend the following day participating in humanitarian projects. The alumni base, while not as big as you’d find at a flagship state school, is tight-knit and loyal. If you put forth some effort, you can build a lucrative network from connections you make at Holy Cross.
Bucknell University
- Location: Lewisburg, PA
- U.S. News ranking: #30 in National Liberal Arts Colleges
- Acceptance rate: 33%
- Graduation rate: 88%
- Middle 50% ACT range: 25-32 (26% submitting scores)
- Middle 50% SAT range: 1,170-1,370 (70% submitting scores)
Bucknell is a Pennsylvania liberal arts college with attainable admissions stats that fights way above its weight. If you’re interested in business or finance, there are few better liberal arts colleges to study at. The big Wall Street banks and consulting firms love to hoover up Bucknell grads.
At Bucknell, students work hard but also play hard — and frat hard! The Greek scene controls much of the social life on campus, so that’s something to be aware off before you get too deep into the application process. A frat-heavy school works for some, but not others. Bucknell also has much more of a conservative vibe than most Northeastern LACs. It’s also much larger and has an engineering school — two additional factors that make it unique.
