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
Southwest Minnesota State University Marshall, Minnesota	62%
The College of New Jersey Ewing, New Jersey	62%
State University of New York at New Paltz New Paltz, New York	62%
Colorado School of Mines Golden, Colorado	61%
University of Hawaii at Hilo Hilo, Hawaii	61%
Ohio State University Main Campus Columbus, Ohio	61%
Penn State Main Campus University Park, Pennsylvania	61%
University of Massachusetts Amherst Amherst, Massachusetts	60%
CUNY City College New York, New York	60%
Fashion Institute of Technology New York, New York	60%
State University of New York at Cortland Cortland, New York	60%
University of Akron Main Campus Akron, Ohio	60%
College of Charleston Charleston, South Carolina	60%
University of South Carolina Columbia Columbia, South Carolina	60%
University of Arkansas at Little Rock Little Rock, Arkansas	59%
Minnesota State University Moorhead Moorhead, Minnesota	59%
Alabama A & M University Normal, Alabama	58%
University of West Florida Pensacola, Florida	58%

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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.