With 18 universities in the Big Ten conference, high school students have quite the decision to make when deciding where to apply.
Should a student want to head to one of the most prestigious conferences in the United States, they need to be aware of just how hard some of these universities are to get into.
According to U.S. News & World Report, three of the 18 colleges in the Big Ten have an acceptance rate of 10% or under. There’s a huge difference between the fourth- and fifth-place schools, and eight universities have no problem accepting more than half of the students who apply.
Using U.S. News’ data as a reference, we rank the Big Ten universities according to their acceptance rate. Let’s take a look at where the acceptance rate of every Big Ten school ranks, from the lowest percentage accepted to the highest.
1. Northwestern University
City: Evanston, Illinois
Acceptance Rate: 8%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 9,060
2. University of California, Los Angeles
City: Los Angeles, CA
Acceptance Rate: 9%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 33,471
3. University of Southern California
City: Los Angeles, CA
Acceptance Rate: 10%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 20,630
4. University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
City: Ann Arbor, MI
Acceptance Rate: 16%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 34,454
5. University of Washington
City: Seattle, WA
Acceptance Rate: 39%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 40,754
6. Rutgers University – New Brunswick
City: Piscataway, NJ
Acceptance Rate: 41%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 37,985
7. University of Illinois Urbana – Champaign
City: Champaign, IL
Acceptance Rate: 42%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 37,140
T-8. University of Maryland, College Park
City: College Park, MD
Acceptance Rate: 45%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 31,133
T-8. University of Wisconsin – Madison
City: Madison, WI
Acceptance Rate: 45%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 39,803
10. Purdue University – Main Campus
City: West Lafayette, IN
Acceptance Rate: 50%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 44,819
T-11. The Ohio State University
City: Columbus, OH
Acceptance Rate: 61%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 46,815
T-11. The Pennsylvania State University – University Park
City: University Park, PA
Acceptance Rate: 61%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 42,619
13. Indiana University – Bloomington
City: Bloomington, IN
Acceptance Rate: 78%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 38,093
14. University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
City: Minneapolis, MN
Acceptance Rate: 80%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 41,303
15. University of Iowa
City: Iowa City, IA
Acceptance Rate: 84%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 22,738
16. Michigan State University
City: East Lansing, MI
Acceptance Rate: 85%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 41,234
17. University of Nebraska – Lincoln
City: Lincoln, NE
Acceptance Rate: 87%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 19,701
18. University of Oregon
City: Eugene, OR
Acceptance Rate: 88%
Fall 2024 Undergraduate Enrollment: 20,622
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This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: All 18 Big Ten schools’ acceptance rate by U.S. News for 2026-27
Reporting by Jordon Lawrenz, Badgers Wire / Badgers Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jordon Lawrenz, Badgers Wire | USA TODAY Network
