The Hardest Colleges to Get Into in Michigan

Michigan is home to more than 50 four-year public and private, not-for-profit colleges that award, at the least, bachelor’s degrees. In fact, Michigan ranks 13th among the states with the most colleges in the US. Michigan boasts major, public land-grant research universities like the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor as well as small, private schools like Hillsdale College, and everything in between. But choosing the right college in Michigan can be a tough proposition considering the sheer number of schools located there.

If you’ve got the grades, the standardized test scores, and excel in other critical areas, such as extracurriculars and leadership positions, then you may be looking to apply to an academically competitive college. Although Michigan isn’t home to any Ivy League schools, or even “Little Ivies,” the state has several very selective colleges that you might want to consider; especially if you live in Michigan and would prefer attending a college that’s in your home state and has a strong academic record to boot.

So, in order to find out the hardest colleges to get into in Michigan, BrokeScholar analyzed all the schools in the state that are four-year institutions, including both public colleges and private, not for-profit colleges, that award bachelor’s degrees or higher. Sourcing the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) as well as from individual college websites, we analyzed and ranked all colleges in Michigan in terms of how difficult they are to gain acceptance to. (See the methodology section for more details).

Read on to find out the hardest colleges to get into in Michigan.

What Are the Hardest Colleges to Get into in Michigan?

Based on our analysis of Michigan’s 50-plus four-year colleges, the hardest college to get into in the Great Lake State has an undergraduate acceptance rate of just 20%. That means four out of every five applicants to this school are not accepted. What’s more interesting is that this school is a public university, not some tiny, private, ultra-competitive liberal arts college. 

Looking at the 53 four-year public colleges and four-year private, not-for-profit colleges that offer bachelor’s degrees in Michigan, their average undergraduate admission rate works out to 79%. The top 10 hardest colleges to get into in Michigan have undergraduate acceptance rates of 68% or less. In terms of graduation rates, the average graduation rate for all 53 Michigan colleges is roughly 54%. For the No. 1 hardest college to get into in Michigan, its graduation rate is 94% — a full 40-percentage points higher than the average.

Below you’ll find a list of the 10 hardest colleges to get into in Michigan, listed in order of lowest acceptance rate to highest acceptance rate. Also included in the breakdown below are costs of tuition and required fees (though required fees does not include room and board).

Based on our analysis, the hardest college to get into in Michigan is the good old University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, a public research university founded in 1817 and home to the Wolverines sports program. In our other studies of the hardest colleges to get into in various states, rarely is it a public institution that ranks as the No. 1 hardest one. But the University of Michigan is easily one of the most renowned public universities in the US and the world, with an academic reputation that everyone knows is excellent. 

Beyond the University of Michigan, the top-10 list is quite interesting and likely includes colleges the average reader may have not heard of before. Here’s a more detailed breakdown of the hardest colleges to get into in Michigan:

1. University of Michigan

Total number of applicants: 79,743

University of Michigan acceptance rate: 20%

Tuition and required fees: $16,736 for in-state | $55,334 for out-of-state

Undergraduate student gender breakdown: 51% Female - 49% Male

The University of Michigan takes the cake as the hardest college to get into in Michigan. With a total of nearly 80,000 undergraduate applicants, only 20% were accepted. And UMich is, of course, a massive state school, with more than 32,000 undergraduate students, but it does not take admitting students lightly. Indeed, for how big UMich is, it is very impressive the college maintains a student-to-teacher ratio of 12 to 1, which is better than a lot of smaller private, not-for-profit colleges. Not to mention, the university’s graduation rate of 94% blows every other Michigan college out of the water. It’s institutions like the University of Michigan that help make Michigan one of the most educated states in the US.

Being that it is a massive, public research university, UMich offers tons of degrees and academic programs. According to NCES data, the most popular fields of study in the 2021 academic year included:

• Bachelor’s degrees: 874 awarded in Computer and Information Sciences, General; 610 awarded in Business Administration and Management, General; 542 awarded in Economics, General; 319 awarded in Behavioral Neuroscience; 316 awarded in Mechanical Engineering; and 312 awarded in Experimental Psychology, to name just a few.
• Master’s degrees: 628 awarded in Business Administration and Management, General; 384 awarded in Social Work; 261 awarded in Electrical and Computer Engineering; 242 awarded in Information Science/Studies; and 129 awarded in Architectural and Building Sciences/Technology.
• Doctoral degrees: 363 awarded in Law; 169 awarded in Medicine; 128 awarded in Dentistry; 83 awarded in Pharmacy; and 42 awarded in Chemistry, General.

2. Hillsdale College

Total number of applicants: 2,994

Hillsdale College acceptance rate: 24%

Tuition and required fees: $30,902

Undergraduate student gender breakdown: 49% Female - 51% Male

Hillsdale College is a private conservative, Christian liberal arts college in southern central Michigan, originally founded in 1844 by abolitionists known as Free Will Baptists. Though located in a fairly remote spot of Michigan, Hillsdale College is well-known among conservative political circles, with its educational curriculum focused on Western heritage as a mixture of classical Greco-Roman culture and Christian tradition. Whether you agree with the institution’s politics or not, there’s no arguing with the fact that it’s the second hardest college to get into in Michigan, with just under a quarter of applicants getting accepted. 

According to NCES data, some of the most popular bachelor’s degrees conferred in the 2021 academic year were:

• Economics, General, with 31 awarded
• Political Science and Government, General, with 31 awarded
• History, General, with 26 awarded
• English Language and Literature, General, with 26 awarded
• Finance, General, with 23 awarded

Hillsdale College does technically offer master’s degrees and doctoral degrees, but the school is primarily focused on undergraduate programs. Most notably, 13 master’s degrees and 2 doctoral degrees were awarded in Political Science and Government, General, at the end of 2021 academic year. Hillsdale is well-known for opting out of the US government's Title IX anti-discrimination requirements, making this college among a small number of US colleges to decline governmental financial support. Thus, for instance, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is not applicable when applying to Hillsdale College.

3. Baker College

Total number of applicants: 1,593

Baker College acceptance rate: 41%

Tuition and required fees: $12,624

Undergraduate student gender breakdown: 73% Female - 27% Male

Baker College is a private, not-for-profit college with its main campus in Owosso, Michigan. It was founded in 1911 and has additional campuses throughout the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. With an undergraduate population of over 4,600 students, Baker College is larger than most of the private colleges to make our top 10 list of the hardest colleges to get into in Michigan. Its undergraduate admission rate of 41% makes it very selective compared to the overall average of 79% for the 53 Michigan colleges considered in this study. However, Baker College’s graduation rate is weak, at 21% it’s well below the study’s overall average graduation rate of 54%.

4. Madonna University

Total number of applicants: 1,219

Madonna University acceptance rate: 52%

Tuition and required fees: $26,100

Undergraduate student gender breakdown: 64% Female - 36% Male

Madonna University is a private Catholic university in Livonia, Michigan. Founded back in 1937, it is among the largest Franciscan universities in the country, featuring an 80-acre wooded campus. Madonna University has an undergraduate population of a little over 2,000 students. Out of more than 1,200 applicants, Madonna University admitted only 52% of them, which makes it one of the most selective colleges in Michigan. The university’s graduation rate of 64% is 10 percentage points higher than the average for the study as a whole. And the school offers all levels of degrees, from undergraduate certificates all the way up to doctoral programs. According to NCES data, some of the most popular degrees include:

• Bachelor’s degrees: 281 awarded in Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse; 62 awarded in Business Administration and Management, General; 53 awarded in Criminal Justice/Safety Studies; and 41 awarded in International Business/Trade/Commerce, all by the end of the 2021 academic year.
• Master’s degrees: 52 awarded in Social Work; 36 awarded in Business Administration and Management, General; 32 awarded in Adult Health Nurse/Nursing; and 25 awarded in Family Practice Nurse/Nursing, by the end of the 2021 academic year.

5. Compass College of Film and Media

Total number of applicants: 43

Compass College acceptance rate: 53%

Tuition and required fees: $18,450

Undergraduate student gender breakdown: 26% Female - 74% Male

Located in Grand Rapids, Compass College of Film and Media is a tiny private, non-profit Christian film college, with an undergraduate population of roughly 74 students. Its entire student population consists of undergraduates and the school offers degrees on the associate level and the bachelor’s level. The associate-level degree is an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) in Film and Media Production. The bachelor’s degree is a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Cinematic and Media Arts. Though small, Compass College of Film and Media doesn’t seem to be too intent on growing its student base, considering it had 43 applicants and accepted only 53% of them. This barely-above-half acceptance rate makes Compass one of the hardest colleges to get into in Michigan, and yet it is largely unknown to much of the public.

6. College for Creative Studies

Total number of applicants: 1,485

College for Creative Studies acceptance rate: 54%

Tuition and required fees: $48,030

Undergraduate student gender breakdown: 63% Female - 37% Male

College for Creative Studies, or CCS, is a private art school in Detroit, Michigan. Founded back in 1906, the College for Creative Studies offers Master of Arts, Master of Fine Arts, and Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in multiple programs to align with industry requirements and needs. According to NCES data, for the academic year ending in 2021, the most popular fields of study included:

• Bachelor’s degrees: 59 awarded in Animation, Interactive Technology, Video Graphics, and Special Effects; 49 awarded in Illustration; 46 awarded in Industrial and Product Design; 25 awarded in Graphic Design; and 19 awarded in Commercial and Advertising Art.
• Master’s degrees: 4 awarded in Design and Applied Arts, Other; 4 awarded in Design and Visual Communications, General; and 2 awarded in Industrial and Product Design.

Out of nearly 1,500 applicants to CCS, only 54% were accepted, which makes this school one of the hardest colleges to get into in Michigan. The college does have a better-than-average graduation rate of 62% and a much larger student body (roughly 1,620 undergraduates) than the previous private arts school on our list, Compass College of Film and Media. Plus, applicants are automatically considered for CCS Scholarships once they complete their admissions requirements and there are additional types of financial aid available to our students.

7. Spring Arbor University

Total number of applicants: 1,760

Spring Arbor acceptance rate: 60%

Tuition and required fees: $31,660

Undergraduate student gender breakdown: 67% Female - 33% Male

Spring Arbor University is appropriately located in Spring Arbor, Michigan, which is only about a 30-minute drive from Hillsdale College. Spring Arbor University is a private Free Methodist university, which developed from an earlier academy and junior college, before it began offering bachelor’s degrees in 1963 and then ultimately gaining university status in 1994. It has a total student population of just under 2,700, with a little over 1,200 of them being undergraduates. Spring Arbor University’s acceptance rate of 60% is very much on the more selective side, with 45 Michigan colleges out of 53 having admission rates that are higher than Spring Arbor’s. 

Even though it’s a comparatively small private college, Spring Arbor University has several subsidiary schools under its umbrella, including:

• Gainey School of Business
• School of Communication, Media & Fine Arts
• School of Education
• School of Engineering
• School of Humanities
• School of Natural Sciences
• School of Nursing & Health Sciences
• School of Social Sciences

8. Wayne State University

Total number of applicants: 15,181

Wayne State University acceptance rate: 63%

Tuition and required fees: $14,464 for in-state | $30,914 for out-of-state

Undergraduate student gender breakdown: 59% Female - 41% Male

Wayne State University is a public research university located in the Motor City and has a very sizable student population. With more than 16,800 undergraduate students and nearly 25,000 total students, Wayne State University is one of the biggest colleges in Michigan, behind only the University of Michigan and Michigan State University. Although a large state school, Wayne State University is much more selective with its admissions compared to, say, Michigan State. Where Wayne State’s undergraduate acceptance rate is 63%, Michigan State’s acceptance rate is 83% — a full 20 percentage points higher.

Wayne State University offers more than 370 academic programs, including 126 bachelor's degree programs, 139 master's degree programs, 60 doctoral degree programs, and 30 certificate, specialist and professional programs. According to NCES data, Wayne State University has a broad range of popular fields of study for which various levels of degrees have been awarded in recent years, including but not limited to: 

• Bachelor’s degrees: 311 awarded in Psychology, General; 262 awarded in Public Health, General; 202 awarded in International Business/Trade/Commerce; 177 awarded in Biology/Biological Sciences, General; 172 awarded in Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse; 170 awarded in Marketing/Marketing Management, General; all conferred at the end of the 2021 academic year.
• Master’s degrees: 414 awarded in Business Administration and Management, General; 326 awarded in Social Work; 142 awarded in Library and Information Science; 48 awarded in Physician Assistant; 40 awarded in Management Science; all conferred at the end of the 2021 academic year.
• Doctoral degrees: 283 awarded in Medicine; 119 awarded in Law; 111 awarded in Pharmacy; 32 awarded in Physical Therapy/Therapist; and 756 doctoral degrees total were conferred at the end of the 2021 academic year.

9. Concordia University Ann Arbor

Total number of applicants: 1,573

Concordia Ann Arbor acceptance rate: 63%

Tuition and required fees: $32,770

Undergraduate student gender breakdown: 50% Female - 50% Male

Concordia University Ann Arbor is one of seven campuses that make up the Concordia University System, an organization operated by the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). There are Concordia University branches across the US, but Concordia University Ann Arbor is one of the best academically. With an undergraduate admission rate of 63%, Concordia University Ann Arbor is tied with Wayne State University as one of the hardest colleges to get into in Michigan, although the latter wins the tiebreaker thanks to its superior graduation rate: 56% at Wayne State versus 51% at Concord University Ann Arbor.

Concordia University Ann Arbor is on the smaller side, with just under 1,000 undergraduate students. But this doesn’t prevent the university from having an extensive variety of degrees and academic programs for students to pursue. Concordia University Ann Arbor awards degrees ranging from the associate level to bachelor’s to master’s to doctoral, both in online and on-campus settings. Equally important, Concordia University Ann Arbor has a great student-to-teacher ratio of 10 to 1, which means there’s more attention given by faculty per student.

10. Siena Heights University

Total number of applicants: 1,502

Siena Heights University acceptance rate: 68%

Tuition and required fees: $29,044

Undergraduate student gender breakdown: 58% Female - 42% Male

Siena Heights University is a private Roman Catholic university located in Adrian, Michigan. It was originally established by the Adrian Dominican Sisters in 1919. Since then, Siena Heights University has developed a robust array of degrees and academic programs. The diversity of the programs offered is impressive considering that the university is fairly small, with an undergraduate population of just under 1,800 students. Siena Heights has programs ranging from an Accelerated MBA to a Master of Science in Nursing (M.S.N.) to a dual degree combining a Nursing M.S.N. and a Business M.B.A., and a lot more.

With an undergraduate acceptance rate of 68%, Siena Heights University is the least selective of the top 10 hardest colleges to get into in Michigan. But its admission rate is still over 10 percentage points lower than the 79% average acceptance rate for Michigan colleges overall in the study.

The Bottom Line on the Hardest Colleges to Get Into in Michigan

Examining the list of the hardest colleges to get into in Michigan reveals some interesting patterns. For example, the acceptance rates at the two most selective colleges — University of Michigan and Hillsdale College — are both in the 20-percents and within easy range of each other. But, after them, the acceptance rates increase dramatically: To 41% for the third hardest college to get into; to 52% for the fourth hardest college to get into; and then already to 60% for the seventh hardest college to get into in Michigan. Compared to our other study of the hardest colleges to get into in Ohio, this steep increase in acceptance rates among the top-10 colleges in Michigan is unusual.

The hardest colleges to get into in Michigan vary significantly in their costs of tuition and fees. At a public, state college like the University of Michigan, an in-state undergraduate pays a comparatively affordable $16,736 per academic year in tuition and required fees (when they're freshmen and sophomores; it actually increases to $18,836 for juniors and seniors). On the other hand, if you're an out-of-state attendee of UMich, you're facing a tuition bill of over $55,000 a year, which then rises to $59,212 for juniors and seniors. 

Fortunately, BrokeScholar has got your back. Thanks to its massive library of college scholarships that both prospective college students and current students can apply for, BrokeScholar is working to reduce the heavy financial burden of attending college. Just as important is BrokeScholar’s huge collection of student discounts, which are especially useful in cutting down on indirect costs of attending college, such as buying textbooks, food, clothes, computer-related tech and equipment, and much more. So, don't let the price tag of some of these schools scare you off. You have options and can put together a financial strategy that can make paying for tuition costs more feasible.

Methodology

In order to identify the hardest colleges to get into in Michigan, we analyzed 53 colleges and universities in Michigan that fit the following criteria:

• Are four-year public or four-year private, not-for-profit institutions

• Offer bachelor's degree programs (at a minimum)

These 53 colleges and universities were sourced from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), as was data on their respective undergraduate populations, undergraduate acceptance rates, total number of applicants, and undergraduate student gender breakdown. The costs of tuition and required fees were sourced from individual college websites and reflect costs for either the 2022-2023 academic year or 2023-2024 academic year if the latter was available.