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
Louisiana State University Alexandria Alexandria, Louisiana	92%
Michigan Technological University Houghton, Michigan	92%
Mississippi Valley State University Itta Bena, Mississippi	92%
Eastern New Mexico University Main Campus Portales, New Mexico	92%
College of Staten Island CUNY Staten Island, New York	92%
SUNY College of Technology at Canton Canton, New York	92%
SUNY Morrisville Morrisville, New York	92%
University of North Carolina Asheville Asheville, North Carolina	92%
University of Toledo Toledo, Ohio	92%
East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania	92%
Penn State Shenango Sharon, Pennsylvania	92%
Rhode Island College Providence, Rhode Island	92%
East Texas A&M University Commerce, Texas	92%
Utah State University Logan, Utah	92%
University of Wisconsin Stevens Point Stevens Point, Wisconsin	92%
California State University Fullerton Fullerton, California	91%
California State University Los Angeles Los Angeles, California	91%
Southern Connecticut State University New Haven, Connecticut	91%

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.