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
Frostburg State University Frostburg, Maryland	89%
University of Minnesota Duluth Duluth, Minnesota	89%
University of Nebraska at Kearney Kearney, Nebraska	89%
Stockton University Galloway, New Jersey	89%
New Mexico State University Main Campus Las Cruces, New Mexico	89%
SUNY College of Technology at Delhi Delhi, New York	89%
East Carolina University Greenville, North Carolina	89%
University of North Carolina at Greensboro Greensboro, North Carolina	89%
Southern Oregon University Ashland, Oregon	89%
University of Pittsburgh Bradford Bradford, Pennsylvania	89%
Texas A & M University Corpus Christi Corpus Christi, Texas	89%
Texas State University San Marcos, Texas	89%
Virginia State University Petersburg, Virginia	89%
West Virginia University Morgantown, West Virginia	89%
University of Wisconsin Green Bay Green Bay, Wisconsin	89%
University of Wisconsin Platteville Platteville, Wisconsin	89%
University of Alabama at Birmingham Birmingham, Alabama	88%
Georgia Southern University Statesboro, Georgia	88%

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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.