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Most selective (lowest admit rate) in California
83 colleges in California with this figure reported (500+ students).
1California Institute of Technology · CA · Private (nonprofit)3% admit2Minerva University · CA · Private (nonprofit)4% admit3Stanford University · CA · Private (nonprofit)4% admit4Pomona College · CA · Private (nonprofit)7% admit5University of California-Los Angeles · CA · Public9% admit6University of Southern California · CA · Private (nonprofit)10% admit7Claremont McKenna College · CA · Private (nonprofit)11% admit8Stanbridge University · CA · Private (for-profit)11% admit9University of California-Berkeley · CA · Public12% admit10Harvey Mudd College · CA · Private (nonprofit)13% admit11Northeastern University Oakland · CA · Private (nonprofit)17% admit12Pitzer College · CA · Private (nonprofit)17% admit13University of California-San Diego · CA · Public25% admit14University of California-Irvine · CA · Public26% admit15California Institute of the Arts · CA · Private (nonprofit)26% admit16University of California-Santa Barbara · CA · Public28% admit17California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo · CA · Public30% admit18Scripps College · CA · Private (nonprofit)34% admit19San Diego State University · CA · Public34% admit20Hope International University · CA · Private (nonprofit)35% admit21Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science · CA · Private (nonprofit)39% admit22University of California-Merced · CA · Public39% admit23Occidental College · CA · Private (nonprofit)40% admit24Loyola Marymount University · CA · Private (nonprofit)40% admit25University of California-Davis · CA · Public42% admit26Pacific Union College · CA · Private (nonprofit)42% admit27Santa Clara University · CA · Private (nonprofit)44% admit28Westcliff University · CA · Private (for-profit)45% admit29University of San Diego · CA · Private (nonprofit)47% admit30California State University-Long Beach · CA · Public47% admit31University of La Verne · CA · Private (nonprofit)48% admit32Pepperdine University · CA · Private (nonprofit)50% admit33University of San Francisco · CA · Private (nonprofit)51% admit34Chapman University · CA · Private (nonprofit)56% admit35Fresno Pacific University · CA · Private (nonprofit)58% admit36Concordia University-Irvine · CA · Private (nonprofit)60% admit37Biola University · CA · Private (nonprofit)60% admit38University of California-Santa Cruz · CA · Public63% admit39University of California-Riverside · CA · Public63% admit40Vanguard University of Southern California · CA · Private (nonprofit)65% admit
Source: U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS (latest survey year). Sorted only by most selective (lowest admit rate) — this is not an overall quality ranking. Open-admission colleges do not report an admit rate and are not listed here.