The Hardest FL Colleges To Get Into

FLORIDA — The hardest Florida college to get into is the University of Miami, according to a recent ranking that looks at admission rates and other factors to determine exclusivity.

Florida has 17 colleges on the 2025 Hardest Colleges To Get Into list from Niche, whose rankings focus on education and the best places to live.

The schools among the top 100 in the U.S. and their acceptance rates are:

• No. 65 - University of Miami in Coral Gables with an overall grade of A+ and a 19 percent acceptance rate
• No. 74 - University of Florida in Gainesville with an overall grade of A+ and a 23 percent acceptance rate
• No. 76 - University of South Florida in Sarasota with an overall grade of A- and a 24 percent acceptance rate
• No. 83 - Florida State University in Tallahassee with an overall grade of A+ and a 25 percent acceptance rate
• No. 87 - University of Tampa in Tampa with an overall grade of B and a 26 percent acceptance rate
• No. 88 - University of South Florida in St. Petersburg with an overall grade of A- and a 27 percent acceptance rate

The following Florida schools also made the full list:

• Florida A&M University in Tallahassee with an overall grade of A- and a 33 percent acceptance rate
• University of Central Florida in Orlando with an overall grade of A and a 41 percent acceptance rate
• University of South Florida in Tampa with an overall A+ grade and a 44 percent acceptance rate
• Ave Maria University in Ave Maria with an overall grade of B- and a 44 percent percent acceptance rate
• University of West Florida in Pensacola with an overall A- grade and a 48 percent acceptance rate
• Webber International University in Babson Park with an overall C- grade and a 49 percent acceptance rate
• Rollins College in Winter Park with an overall B+ grade and a 50 percent acceptance rate
• DeVry University - Florida in Miramar with an overall C grade and a 33 percent acceptance rate
• AdventHealth University in Orlando with an overall A- grade and a 34 percent acceptance rate
• HCI College in West Palm Beach with an overall grade of B- and a 47 percent acceptance rate
• Trinity Baptist College in Jacksonville with an overall C grade and a 50 percent acceptance rate

Niche said ACT and SAT scores have been removed in this year’s rankings “to reflect a general de-emphasis on test scores in the college admissions process.”

• Related: Hardest U.S. College To Get Into Is Not An Exclusive Ivy League School

Nationally, the hardest schools to get into are:

1. Minerva University, San Francisco (1 percent)
2. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (3 percent),
3. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (3 percent)
4. Stanford University, Stanford, California (4 percent)
5. Columbia University, New York City (4 percent)
6. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge (4 percent)
7. Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (5 percent)
8. Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island (5 percent)
9. University of Chicago (5 percent)
10. Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey (6 percent)
11. Duke University, Durham, North Carolina (6 percent)
12. Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire (6 percent)
13. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (7 percent)
14. Vanderbilt University, Nashville (7 percent)
15. Northeastern University, Boston (7 percent)
16. Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania (7 percent)
17. Pomona College, Claremont, California (7 percent)
18. Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois (7 percent)
19. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (7 percent)
20. Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts (7 percent)

Three of those schools — Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University and Vanderbilt University — are what Forbes calls “the New Ivies,” 20 public and private schools that offer good job prospects to graduates as employers turn away from the nation’s oldest and most venerable schools.

• Related: Forbes Names 20 Colleges ‘New Ivies,’ Says Employers Prefer Them