Oct 30, 2016 01:14 AM EDT By Emily Marks, UniversityHerald Reporter

College application has become more competitive than ever. Nowadays, students need more than just high grades and scores to get into the most prestigious institutions.

According to U.S. News, admission at a top-ranked college or university is increasingly becoming more difficult each year. High school students who are planning to go to college should make sure that they prepare as early as their freshman year to plan their college application.

High school freshmen will need to map out their classes carefully. They should strive to do well academically and look for extracurricular activities that can equip them with the skills that they need to have in the future.

"Gone are the days when a high GPA and top SAT score will get you through the gates of Harvard," Kristen Moon, founder of Atlanta-based MoonPrep.com, which advises parents and students on the college application process, said. "Actually, you're lucky if it gets you up the stairs to NYU - the college admissions game is more competitive than ever."

U.S. News made a list of the top 10 most selective universities in the United States. Stanford University nabbed the top spot with only five percent (2,140) of 42,497 applicants getting their acceptance letters for fall 2015.

Stanford took the top spot in WSJ's Top College Rankings. It also topped Reuters' list as the Most Innovative University in the world.

Harvard University came in second place as the most selective university with a 5.6 percent acceptance rate. It is followed by Columbia University with 6.1 percent.

Ivy League institutions Yale and Princeton got fourth and fifth places with 6.7 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively. Other schools on the list include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago, the United States Naval Academy, the California Institute of Technology and Brown University.

CalTech is noted to have become more selective. It accepted 8.8 percent of applicants for the fall 2015 entering class. The year before that, it had a 10 percent acceptance rate.

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