United States Public Colleges Ranked by Highest Acceptance Rate

Below is a ranking of the 633 public colleges in the United States with the highest acceptance rate for freshman undergraduate applications. Athens State University leads the list by accepting 100% of high school students that applied.

Acceptance rate is a measure of the competitiveness of a school. Lower acceptance rates are more competitive and may require a higher GPA, SAT/ACT score, and other factors to be considered for admission.

List of United States Public Colleges Ranked by Highest Acceptance Rate
College	Acceptance Rate
University of New Mexico Main Campus Albuquerque, New Mexico	95%
North Dakota State University Main Campus Fargo, North Dakota	95%
Oregon Institute of Technology Klamath Falls, Oregon	95%
Penn State New Kensington New Kensington, Pennsylvania	95%
Penn State Fayette Eberly Lemont Furnace, Pennsylvania	95%
University of Pittsburgh Greensburg Greensburg, Pennsylvania	95%
University of Pittsburgh Johnstown Johnstown, Pennsylvania	95%
The University of Texas Permian Basin Odessa, Texas	95%
California State University San Marcos San Marcos, California	95%
California State University Channel Islands Camarillo, California	95%
Georgia Gwinnett College Lawrenceville, Georgia	95%
California State University Bakersfield Bakersfield, California	94%
California State University San Bernardino San Bernardino, California	94%
California State University Sacramento Sacramento, California	94%
Wichita State University Wichita, Kansas	94%
Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, Kentucky	94%
Midwestern State University Wichita Falls, Texas	94%
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Edinburg, Texas	94%

Search and filter all 633 colleges

This list is updated annually based on the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Last updated: August 2026

Data source: IPEDS 2025 survey for academic year 2024/2025 - National Center for Education Statistics.