Best Liberal Arts Colleges

US News 2026 LAC rankings. Small, undergrad-only colleges with high PhD-feeder rates.

Top entries are curated; the rest are auto-extended by selectivity.

#	School	Location	Accept	SAT mid-50%	ACT mid-50%	Undergrads	Avg Class Size	Type
#1	Williams	Williamstown, Massachusetts	7.4%	1500-1560	33-35	2,000	~13 est.	private	View
#2	Amherst	Amherst, Massachusetts	6.8%	1490-1560	33-35	1,900	~15 est.	private	View
#3	Swarthmore	Swarthmore, Pennsylvania	7.5%	1500-1550	33-35	1,623	~18 est.	private	View
#4	Pomona	Claremont, California	6.9%	1500-1550	32-35	1,732	~15 est.	private	View
#5	Wellesley	Wellesley, Massachusetts	14.1%	1470-1550	32-35	2,500	~15 est.	private	View
#6	Bowdoin	Brunswick, Maine	6.8%	1470-1540	33-35	1,841	~20 est.	private	View
#7	Carleton	Northfield, Minnesota	20.4%	1470-1530	33-35	2,069	~20 est.	private	View
#8	Claremont McKenna	Claremont, California	9.6%	1490-1550	32-35	1,398	~18 est.	private	View
#9	Davidson	Davidson, North Carolina	12.6%	1360-1490	31-34	1,900	~20 est.	private	View
#10	Middlebury	Middlebury, Vermont	17.5%	1445-1530	33-35	2,760	~18 est.	private	View
#11	Smith	Northampton, Massachusetts	21.0%	1450-1520	32-35	2,500	~15 est.	private	View
#12	Vassar	Poughkeepsie, New York	20.9%	1460-1530	32-34	2,400	~18 est.	private	View
#13	Hamilton	Clinton, New York	13.5%	1460-1530	33-35	2,037	~20 est.	private	View
#14	Colgate	Hamilton, New York	13.9%	1450-1530	33-34	3,200	~20 est.	private	View
#15	Colby	Waterville, Maine	8.0%	1470-1530	32-34	2,200	~22 est.	private	View
#16	Bates	Lewiston, Maine	13.3%	1410-1490	31-33	1,900	~22 est.	private	View
#17	Grinnell	Grinnell, Iowa	14.5%	1430-1520	31-34	1,788	~20 est.	private	View
#18	Mount Holyoke	South Hadley, Massachusetts	36.0%	1410-1510	32-33	2,200	~20 est.	private	View
#19	Bryn Mawr	Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania	29.4%	1290-1490	29-33	1,300	~15 est.	private	View
#20	Wesleyan	Middletown, Connecticut	16.1%	1300-1500	31-34	3,805	~18 est.	private	View
#21	Haverford	Haverford, Pennsylvania	13.3%	1470-1540	33-35	1,400	~18 est.	private	View
#22	Oberlin	Oberlin, Ohio	34.2%	1360-1500	30-33	2,900	~20 est.	private	View
#23	Kenyon	Gambier, Ohio	31.0%	1370-1473	31-33	2,249	~20 est.	private	View
#24	Macalester	Saint Paul, Minnesota	28.2%	1360-1520	29-34	2,200	~22 est.	private	View
#25	Harvey Mudd	Claremont, California	12.7%	1510-1560	34-36	900	~18 est.	private	View
#26	Barnard	New York, New York	10.1%	1470-1540	33-35	2,600	~24 est.	private	View
#27	Scripps	Claremont, California	38.3%	1440-1520	31-34	1,000	~24 est.	private	View
#28	Pitzer	Claremont, California	25.2%	1340-1490	31-33	1,227	~26 est.	private	View
#29	Trinity College	Hartford, Connecticut	38.0%	1300-1430	29-32	2,200	~20 est.	private	View
#30	Reed	Portland, Oregon	29.2%	1320-1490	30-34	1,500	~20 est.	private	View
#31	Skidmore	Saratoga Springs, New York	21.1%	1340-1450	31-34	2,700	~20 est.	private	View
#32	Whitman	Walla Walla, Washington	38.2%	1330-1480	29-33	1,561	~20 est.	private	View
#33	Connecticut College	New London, Connecticut	37.0%	1160-1400	30-33	1,800	~20 est.	private	View
#34	Occidental	Los Angeles, California	26.0%	1400-1495	31-34	1,938	~22 est.	private	View
#35	Caltech	Pasadena, California	3.8%	1530-1580	35-36	987	~8 est.	private	View
#36	Juilliard	New York, New York	8.0%	1100-1400	21-31	600	~9 est.	private	View
#37	Cooper Union	New York, New York	11.0%	1340-1500	30-34	900	~15 est.	private	View
#38	Washington and Lee	Virginia	14.0%	1430-1540	33-34	2,241	~20 est.	private	View
#39	Olin College	Needham, Massachusetts	18.0%	1483-1528	34-35	400	~15 est.	private	View
#40	Colorado College	Colorado	18.5%	1240-1440	31-34	2,100	~20 est.	private	View
#41	Berea College	Kentucky	19.3%	1156-1335	23-28	1,513	~20 est.	private	View
#42	Babson	Wellesley, Massachusetts	17.1%	1410-1500	29-32	2,500	~29 est.	private	View
#43	Rhode Island School of Design	Providence, Rhode Island	18.7%	1396-1530	31-34	2,092	~20 est.	private	View
#44	Hillsdale College	Michigan	20.7%	1320-1490	30-33	1,573	~20 est.	private	View
#45	Holy Cross	Massachusetts	22.0%	1340-1490	31-33	3,100	~24 est.	private	View
#46	University of Richmond	Virginia	22.2%	1430-1510	33-35	3,300	~24 est.	private	View
#47	Trinity University	Texas	25.9%	1300-1470	31-34	2,423	~20 est.	private	View
#48	Franklin and Marshall College	Pennsylvania	28.2%	1330-1430	30-33	1,808	~20 est.	private	View
#49	Bucknell	Lewisburg, Pennsylvania	28.9%	1170-1360	25-33	3,617	~20 est.	private	View
#50	Lafayette	Pennsylvania	32.3%	1370-1490	30-33	2,700	~20 est.	private	View
#51	California Institute of the Arts	California	32.3%	None-None	None-None	860	~20 est.	private	View
#52	Gettysburg	Pennsylvania	38.9%	1280-1480	28-32	2,200	~20 est.	private	View
#53	Brandeis	Waltham, Massachusetts	40.5%	1415-1520	31-34	3,500	~22 est.	private	View
#54	Bard	New York	42.0%	1280-1450	29-33	2,000	~20 est.	private	View
#55	Dickinson	Pennsylvania	42.1%	1330-1440	28-32	2,100	~20 est.	private	View
#56	Rhodes	Tennessee	50.0%	1352-1470	28-32	1,793	~20 est.	private	View
#57	The College of Wooster	Ohio	59.5%	1250-1420	27-33	1,738	~20 est.	private	View
#58	Denison University	Ohio	65.0%	1340-1470	29-32	2,394	~20 est.	private	View
#59	Lewis & Clark College	Oregon	78.5%	1150-1330	24-30	2,500	~20 est.	private	View
#60	Morehouse	Atlanta, Georgia	33.0%	1010-1210	18-25	2,200	~29 est.	private	View
#61	Fisk University	Tennessee	37.4%	1140-1510	19-24	1,035	~20 est.	private	View
#62	University of Tulsa	Oklahoma	39.0%	1190-1410	25-32	2,700	~20 est.	private	View
#63	Furman	South Carolina	43.0%	1280-1417	28-32	2,505	~20 est.	private	View
#64	Spelman	Atlanta, Georgia	43.0%	1130-1303	22-27	2,200	~24 est.	private	View
#65	Southwestern University	Texas	43.0%	1150-1330	24-30	2,200	~20 est.	private	View
#66	Union College	New York	43.9%	1310-1480	29-33	2,046	~20 est.	private	View
#67	Bennington	Vermont	44.5%	1308-1375	30-32	700	~20 est.	private	View
#68	Rollins College	Florida	47.5%	1210-1340	25-30	2,200	~20 est.	private	View
#69	St. Olaf	Minnesota	48.3%	1300-1460	28-32	3,000	~24 est.	private	View
#70	Tuskegee	Tuskegee, Alabama	48.7%	970-1215	18-25	3,000	~29 est.	private	View
#71	Sewanee	Tennessee	51.0%	1236-1398	26-31	1,615	~20 est.	private	View
#72	Emerson College	Massachusetts	51.3%	1270-1420	29-32	3,870	~24 est.	private	View
#73	Centre	Kentucky	54.3%	1230-1420	26-32	1,372	~20 est.	private	View
#74	St. Lawrence University	New York	54.3%	1255-1420	30-33	1,918	~20 est.	private	View
#75	Yeshiva	New York	55.6%	1340-1510	29-33	2,700	~20 est.	private	View