How hard is it to get into the nation's most selective universities? See the 25 lowest acceptance rates in the US.

Harvard's Class of 2029 received 47,893 applications. The university accepted less than 4% of those applicants. Bloomberg/Getty Images Business Insider compiled the nation's 25 universities that are the hardest to get into. Eight universities had an acceptance rate of under 5% in 2024. Fear of rejection is driving students to apply to more schools, pushing down admission rates. People are applying to more colleges than ever before, but admission to some of the US's top universities remains highly competitive. Using federal data from the National Center for Education Statistics, Business Insider compiled a list of the 25 universities in the US that are hardest to get into in 2024. With a few exceptions, universities are generally larger institutions that offer a wide range of academic programs, including bachelor's and graduate degrees. They also often contain smaller colleges, such as colleges of education, engineering, or health sciences.