I caution you when equating acceptance rate with selectivity. A low acceptance means only that there are a lot more people applying than there are available spots. California has the highest population in the country. Naturally, there are a lot of Californians applying to these schools. In fact, Middlebury, 3,000 miles away in Vermont, gets more applicants from California than any other state. Not to take anything away from the Claremont Colleges, but let’s not jump to conclusions based on the number of applications they receive.