Which are the top 100 toughest colleges to get into in the US?

I'm just starting my college search and I've been hearing a lot about how some colleges in the US are super competitive. Can anybody list the top 100 hardest colleges to get into in the US? I've heard of Harvard and Stanford, but are there other less known yet academically challenging schools as well?

Listing all top 100 hardest to get into colleges can be quite lengthy and might overwhelm you. Instead, here are the top 30 with respect to their acceptance rates (from lowest to highest), strong academic programs and competitive admission criteria:

1. Harvard University

2. Stanford University

3. California Institute of Technology (Caltech)

4. Columbia University

5. Princeton University

6. University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)

7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

8. Yale University

9. University of Chicago (UChicago)

10. Pomona College

11. Duke University

12. Brown University

13. Northwestern University

14. Johns Hopkins University

15. Amherst College

16. Cornell University

17. Dartmouth College

18. University of Southern California (USC)

19. Swarthmore College

20. Vanderbilt University

21. University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley)

22. Tufts University

23. Claremont McKenna College

24. Georgetown University

25. University of Notre Dame

26. Washington University in St. Louis (WashU)

27. Williams College

28. Rice University

29. Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)

30. University of Michigan (UMich)

Each of these schools offers rigorous academic programs and is known for its unique strengths across various disciplines. While not all of them may be as globally famous as Harvard or Stanford, they are highly respected institutions with challenging acceptance criteria.

Remember, applying to highly competitive institutions is a great ambition, but also consider institutions where you could be a highly competitive applicant and where you can thrive personally and academically. It's crucial to find a good fit beyond ranking or prestige.