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
Eastern Illinois University Charleston, Illinois	65%
New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, New Jersey	65%
Minot State University Minot, North Dakota	65%
Northwestern Oklahoma State University Alva, Oklahoma	65%
The University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, Texas	65%
University of Vermont Burlington, Vermont	65%
University of Central Missouri Warrensburg, Missouri	64%
CUNY Queens College Queens, New York	64%
CUNY York College Jamaica, New York	64%
Elizabeth City State University Elizabeth City, North Carolina	64%
University of North Carolina Wilmington Wilmington, North Carolina	64%
Texas A&M University Texarkana Texarkana, Texas	64%
University of Alaska Southeast Juneau, Alaska	63%
University of Missouri St Louis Saint Louis, Missouri	63%
Farmingdale State College Farmingdale, New York	63%
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Syracuse, New York	63%
Florida Gulf Coast University Fort Myers, Florida	63%
Oregon State University Cascades Campus Bend, Oregon	63%

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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.