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
Western Connecticut State University Danbury, Connecticut	87%
University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu, Hawaii	87%
Boise State University Boise, Idaho	87%
Southern Illinois University Carbondale Carbondale, Illinois	87%
University of Louisiana at Lafayette Lafayette, Louisiana	87%
Salisbury University Salisbury, Maryland	87%
Fitchburg State University Fitchburg, Massachusetts	87%
University of Nebraska at Omaha Omaha, Nebraska	87%
University of Nebraska Lincoln Lincoln, Nebraska	87%
North Carolina Central University Durham, North Carolina	87%
Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania Shippensburg, Pennsylvania	87%
The University of Texas at San Antonio San Antonio, Texas	87%
George Mason University Fairfax, Virginia	87%
Washington State University Pullman, Washington	87%
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Oshkosh, Wisconsin	87%
University of Connecticut Waterbury Campus Waterbury, Connecticut	87%
Nevada State University Henderson, Nevada	87%
University of Arizona Tucson, Arizona	86%

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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.