Two of the 25 most selective colleges and universities, with the lowest acceptance rates in the United States, are in Greater Philadelphia—Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania, writes Hilary Burns and Ryan Mulligan for Philadelphia Business Journal.

Both had acceptance rates of 9% and ranked No. 14 and No. 13 out of 25 in the nation for the 2020-21 academic year.

They are followed by Haverford College and Villanova University, which have 18% and 31% acceptance rates, respectively.

Nationally, colleges with at least 1,000 applications in 2020 had an average acceptance rate of 70%.

The 25 most selective colleges collected $1.9 million on average in application fees two years ago, at $50 to $90 each.

Those fees have increased for 2021 and 2022.  Harvard, for example, charges a $75 application fee and received 61,220 applications.

Not all colleges are seeing a growth in applications. Many smaller colleges continue a struggle to find students, especially in regions where college-bound student populations are declining.

 “The result is a destabilizing competitive market where the ‘have’ (institutions) get all the applications, and the ‘have-nots’ are lacking in applicants,” said Kim Reid, principal analyst at Eduventures. “It’s a bit of a mirage.”

Read more at Philadelphia Business Journal about selective colleges.