Deciding where to go college is the first major life decision many Americans make. And while there are many factors to weigh when selecting a school – including cost and distance from home – many of the 16.6 million American college students today chose to enroll in the best school they could get into.

It is generally believed that graduates of elite colleges and universities are better positioned for higher-paying careers later in life. And there is plenty of evidence to back this claim. According to one study conducted between 1996 and 2014, about 38% of Fortune 500 CEOs and 45% of billionaires attended elite post-secondary schools. (This is where the 25 richest American billionaires went to college.)

Based on data from the U.S. Department of Education, of the 15 colleges or universities in Louisiana with available data, Tulane University of Louisiana, located in New Orleans, ranks as the hardest school to get into. Only 9.6% of applicants for the fall 2021 semester were admitted, and the median SAT score among enrolled students in the 2020-2021 academic year was 1420 out of a possible 1600.

The average cost of attending Tulane University of Louisiana as a full-time student is $75,628 for one academic year. Average annual cost of attendance is only for full-time, first-time, undergraduates who receive Title IV aid.

All schools within each state with at least 1,000 applicants in fall 2021 were ranked based on an index score of median SAT scores, from the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard and admissions rates, from the National Center for Education Statistics. Average annual cost of attendance is also from the College Scorecard.

 

State Hardest school to get into Admissions rate, Fall 2021 (%) Combined median SAT scores (out of 1600) Avg. annual cost of attendance ($) Schools considered in state
Alabama Tuskegee University 34.2 953 40,750 17
Alaska University of Alaska Fairbanks 64.7 1160 19,135 1
Arizona Ottawa University-Surprise 30.5 981 45,139 5
Arkansas Lyon College 27.2 1091 41,396 12
California California Institute of Technology 3.9 1555 74,763 53
Colorado United States Air Force Academy 12.4 1325 N/A 13
Connecticut Yale University 5.3 1520 76,645 14
Delaware University of Delaware 72.3 1240 28,708 2
Florida University of Florida 30.1 1375 21,151 27
Georgia Emory University 13.1 1455 72,604 29
Hawaii University of Hawaii at Manoa 70.0 1175 23,405 5
Idaho The College of Idaho 56.3 1145 45,607 6
Illinois University of Chicago 6.5 1535 81,531 39
Indiana University of Notre Dame 15.1 1475 74,172 27
Iowa Grinnell College 10.5 1446 70,346 20
Kansas Sterling College 47.4 990 40,406 9
Kentucky Berea College 33.0 1180 54,866 18
Louisiana Tulane University of Louisiana 9.6 1420 75,628 15
Maine Colby College 8.9 1450 73,600 5
Maryland Johns Hopkins University 7.5 1515 74,001 12
Massachusetts Massachusetts Institute of Technology 4.1 1545 73,160 37
Michigan University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 20.2 1430 30,926 25
Minnesota Carleton College 17.5 1425 74,275 19
Mississippi Mississippi College 49.0 1200 34,918 8
Missouri Washington University in St. Louis 13.0 1520 76,910 20
Montana The University of Montana-Western 33.3 1005 17,790 6
Nebraska University of Nebraska-Lincoln 81.1 1215 24,400 6
Nevada University of Nevada-Las Vegas 83.5 1140 18,756 2
New Hampshire Dartmouth College 6.2 1500 77,152 3
New Jersey Princeton University 4.4 1510 74,150 19
New Mexico Eastern New Mexico University-Main Campus 32.5 1055 17,897 4
New York Columbia University in the City of New York 4.1 1515 79,750 81
North Carolina Duke University 5.9 1520 77,846 41
North Dakota University of Mary 78.8 1110 30,194 4
Ohio Case Western Reserve University 30.2 1430 69,526 38
Oklahoma Oklahoma Baptist University 55.7 1105 42,983 11
Oregon Corban University 37.5 1080 45,919 13
Pennsylvania University of Pennsylvania 5.9 1515 78,186 61
Rhode Island Brown University 5.5 1500 77,490 6
South Carolina Clemson University 49.2 1300 32,254 22
South Dakota Augustana University 71.8 1223 47,710 7
Tennessee Vanderbilt University 7.1 1520 73,148 23
Texas Rice University 9.5 1515 67,102 54
Utah Brigham Young University 59.2 1305 18,936 5
Vermont Middlebury College 13.4 1430 74,248 3
Virginia Washington and Lee University 18.8 1425 73,900 33
Washington University of Washington-Seattle Campus 53.5 1327 26,825 14
West Virginia University of Charleston 69.7 1073 43,829 12
Wisconsin University of Wisconsin-Madison 60.4 1360 26,393 13
Wyoming University of Wyoming 96.8 1140 20,258 1