11. Elon University
Location: Elon, NC
Class of 2016 Applied: 25
Class of 2016 Accepted: 18
Tucked between Greensboro and the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill triangle, Elon is a small, suburban school with 5,903 undergraduates. U.S. News & World Report ranked it #1 among regional universities in the South and also #1 among schools with the best undergraduate teaching. It’s among the nation’s top universities for producing Fulbright student scholars, Peace Corps volunteers and Teach for America instructors.