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
Ball State University Muncie, Indiana	85%
University of Louisiana at Monroe Monroe, Louisiana	85%
Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan	85%
Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan	85%
University of Cincinnati Main Campus Cincinnati, Ohio	85%
Ohio University Main Campus Athens, Ohio	85%
Purdue University Fort Wayne Fort Wayne, Indiana	84%
Indiana University South Bend South Bend, Indiana	84%
Indiana University Southeast New Albany, Indiana	84%
University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa	84%
Framingham State University Framingham, Massachusetts	84%
University of Massachusetts Boston Boston, Massachusetts	84%
Northern Michigan University Marquette, Michigan	84%
Truman State University Kirksville, Missouri	84%
SUNY College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill Cobleskill, New York	84%
SUNY Old Westbury Old Westbury, New York	84%
Youngstown State University Youngstown, Ohio	84%
University of North Texas at Dallas Dallas, Texas	84%

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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.