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
University of California Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, California	33%
California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, California	31%
University of North Carolina School of the Arts Winston Salem, North Carolina	30%
University of California Irvine Irvine, California	29%
University of Virginia's College at Wise Wise, Virginia	29%
University of California San Diego La Jolla, California	27%
The University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas	27%
Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida	24%
University of Florida Gainesville, Florida	24%
Citadel Military College of South Carolina Charleston, South Carolina	23%
United States Coast Guard Academy New London, Connecticut	22%
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Tallahassee, Florida	21%
University of Virginia Main Campus Charlottesville, Virginia	17%
University of Michigan Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, Michigan	16%
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, North Carolina	15%
United States Air Force Academy USAF Academy, Colorado	14%
Georgia Institute of Technology Main Campus Atlanta, Georgia	14%
United States Military Academy West Point, New York	12%

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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.