The most selective colleges and universities in the Philadelphia region are getting even choosier, including two in Montgomery County, which made the top ten list of the area’s most selective higher education institutions, write Joanne Drilling and Ryan Mulligan for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

The Business Journals used data from the U.S. Department of Education to identify the most selective schools in the region and across the nation last year. Schools were ranked based on a weighted formula that considers both the acceptance rates and matriculation rates.

Villanova University ranked fourth in the region. The prestigious school admitted just 23.4 percent of applicants in fiscal 2023 (or 5,576 students out of 23,835).

Villanova is also near the top in the nation based on cuts in admissions rate in the last ten years. The school accepted nearly 50 percent of its applicants in 2015, which is more than double last year’s rate.

Meanwhile, Arcadia University ranked in ninth place with an admission rate of 77.6 percent in 2023. The school accepted 4,903 students out of the 6,321 who applied.

Read more about the most selective higher education institutions in Montgomery County at the Philadelphia Business Journal.

______